Kevin Drum  Chart of the Day - 4.20.2009  | Mon Apr. 20, 2009
9:53 AM GMT  A few days ago, when I read that bank lending had
dropped 2.2% in February, I didn't think too much of it.  In
fact, it didn't really sound all that bad.  Given that we're in
the middle of a serious recession, a decrease of 2.2% seemed
like it might be reasonable even if there were no bank crisis at
all.  But I wasn't reading closely enough.  First: this is not a
year-on-year decline.  It's a one-month decline, which
annualizes to about 30%.  Second: that number is a median. 
Total lending decreased 4.7%.  Third, it's an average, and some
banks cut back a lot more than others.  The Wall Street Journal
reports:    That's a big drop, even for the middle of a
recession.  What's more, as the Journal's chart shows, some of
the biggest drops came from Citigroup and JPMorgan, both
recipients of big TARP bailouts.  Even with all that TARP money,
they're apparently not capitalized well enough to keep lending
at a healthy level — which means tha