LENDING INSTITUTIONS NOT LENDING - AT 7:25 A.M. ET:  From the Washington Post.  Praise to the Post, a liberal paper, for a series of articles that confront the Obama administration with hard facts to contradict manufactured White House optimism:

Lending by the nation's largest banks fell 6 percent in February from the previous month, continuing a downward trend that began in October with the financial crisis, according to data published yesterday by the Treasury Department.

The 21 banks in the survey have received more than $211 billion in federal funding to support new lending with the aim of stimulating the economy. The money has not accomplished its purpose.

COMMENT:  Now Treasury is saying that the real purpose of the bailout money is to limit the decline in lending, not to stimulate new lending.  Hmm.  That's news to us, and isn't what Treasury said originally.  Republicans should pounce on this.  This is a huge amount of federal bailout money, and the bailout isn't working.  If the government would give me some money, I'll be happy to lend it to relatives.

April 16, 2009