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They explained to me that the bank cannot lend money to poor people because these people are not creditworthy.

Banks were once places to hold money and were very careful in lending to finance families as they built a future - bought homes, bought cars, took out student loans.

Let's be honest: It wasn't just the banks who messed up. There were a lot of people who tried to buy assets they couldn't afford. That's a reality.

People get into debt head over heels because banks make it so easy to do so. Then the banks come along and act like these people who can't or won't pay their bills are the dregs of society.

It is only the poor who pay cash, and that not from virtue, but because they are refused credit.

You might say those who can't repay their student debts shouldn't have borrowed in the first place. But they had no way of knowing just how bad the jobs market would become.

The banks are not lending, at least from what I see. They were so wild and reckless back in the good times that they got burned terribly.

What the study I chaired actually said was we needed tougher regulation of cash and capital in banks, as credit was too easy. Events proved that right.

It's true that monetary policy was too lax for too long, and the government encouraged lending to people who were unlikely to repay their loans.

People with banking experience haven't all flocked to the biggest banks; community banks and regional banks, along with smaller trading houses and credit unions, have some very talented people.