When the U.S. Treasury announced its Capital Purchase Program on Oct. 14, I wondered why it wanted to buy stock in commercial banks. Uncle Sam immediately put $125 billion up to buy preferred stock in nine of the country’s largest banks, and now it is setting aside another $125 billion to buy stock in smaller banks.
Treasury says it wants to spur lending but I get the sense banks already are making all the sound loans they can. If lending has slowed, it is . . .
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