Starting off this terrific article from Floyd Norris is this simply astounding statistic:
More than $1 in every $10 that American banks have outstanding in loans is lent to a troubled borrower, a ratio far higher than previously seen in the quarter-century that such numbers have been compiled.
The problems are greatest in construction loans for single-family homes, where nearly 40 percent of the loans either are delinquent or have been written off as uncollectible. But they are also high in mortgage loans for single-family homes, where $1 in every $8 of loans is troubled.
Amazing . . .
That is what happens when we elected to go Japanese rather than Swedish on the financial sector — We saved the Banks, but sacrificed the Banking System.
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Previously:
Time to Get Swedish (January 23rd, 2009)
http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2009/01/time-to-get-swedish/
The New N Word: Nationalization (February 25th, 2009)
http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2009/02/nationalization-the-new-n-word/
Why Aren’t Banks Lending? They Are Being Rational (December 23rd, 2009)
http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2009/12/why-arent-banks-lending-they-are-being-rational/
Source:
Banks Out of the Woods? Maybe Not
FLOYD NORRIS
NYT, February 26, 2010
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/27/business/27charts.html
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