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According to Federal Reserve banking data
(via the St. Louis Fed) released yesterday, "weekly bank credit of all
commercial banks" hit an all-time record high of $9.49 trillion on
March 19, 2008.
total bank credit measured as the "percent change from a year ago" (see
chart above). Compared to the same week a year ago, bank credit in the
third week of March (the most recent week available) increased by
12.62%, the largest annual percent increase in bank credit in more than
a quarter century!
You would never know from media reports on the "credit crisis" (1.81 million Google hits) and "credit crunch" (3.61 million Google hits)
that total U.S. bank credit is higher in absolute terms than ever in
U.S. history, and is growing at the fastest rate in percentage terms
since 1979!
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