As long as the loans are used to bid up property, stock and
bond prices, they can claim that they are «responding to the market» by getting homeowners, commercial real estate investors,
corporate raiders and financial
managers to pledge their assets as collateral for yet
new loans in a process that seems to be self - sustaining.
I remember being in a meeting when I was a
corporate bond manager, and the
new head of credit research said to the credit analysts, «Credit analysis is war by another name.»