I’m not an economist. So take my advice with a grain of salt. Or two.
But hold the pepper. I’m not the only non-economist. Our president isn’t one, either.
Sure, he has economists on his staff, but I’ve more than just begun to doubt their wisdom.
Take his latest advice to banks: “Go back and take a third and fourth look” at operations . . . and “explore every responsible way” to put their money in the hands of small and medium-sized businesses with current loan applications.
We can all agree it’d be nice to get rolling like we were before the bust.
But I bet bankers are trying to learn something from the bust, something about booms. They have every reason to be super-cautious. What if the current situation remains a house of cards, one that could come a-crashin’ at any moment? Lending money out now, in questionable cases, would be a horrid waste of capital.
I know that presidents are now cheerleaders for prosperity. One of their jobs, in the modern interventionist economy, is to pretend that prosperity is always right around the corner. Even if it isn’t.
But bankers have a different job. That job is to not lose money. And if they are now afraid tht in making a loan they might not get their money back, no amount of “advice” from our alleged economist-in-chief should change their minds. It’s called “fiduciary responsibility.”
This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.