Thread: Trapped in the Basel III Credit Contracting Death Spiral

Trapped in the Basel III Credit Contracting Death Spiral

Economics / Credit Crisis 2010
Sep 19, 2010 - 06:58 AM

By: Ellen_Brown

The stock market shot up on September 13, after new banking regulations were announced called Basel III. Wall Street breathed a sigh of relief. The megabanks, propped up by generous taxpayer bailouts, would have no trouble meeting the new capital requirements, which were lower than expected and would not be fully implemented until 2019. Only the local commercial banks, the ones already struggling to meet capital requirements, would be seriously challenged by the new rules.

Unfortunately, these are the banks that make most of the loans to local businesses, which do most of the hiring and producing in the real economy. The Basel III capital requirements were ostensibly designed to prevent a repeat of the 2008 banking collapse, but the new rules fail to address its real cause.

Why Basel III Misses the Mark

Two years after the 2008 bailout, the economy continues to struggle with a lack of credit, the hallmark of recessions and depressions. Credit (or debt) is issued by banks and is the source of virtually all money today. When credit is not available, there is insufficient money to buy goods or pay salaries, so workers get laid off and businesses shut down, in a vicious spiral of debt and depression.

We are still trapped in that spiral today, despite massive “quantitative easingâ€

Who here believes the new lending legislation is designed to actually protect the CONSUMER as opposed to the LENDER's loan shark tactics?