One of the biggest problems out there that I hear from my friends in the business community is that there's no lending, that it's tough to get a loan today.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
As someone who has owned a small business in the past, I understand how difficult it can be to get a loan.
The lack of available credit and loans is having a severe impact on small businesses in particular, but also their suppliers and the bigger companies too.
Financing is tough, and you really have to work hard in the businesses you invest in.
You can make great money in a utility type of business by borrowing cheaply and lending sensibly but that's not what's being done.
It's tough for people to get into business, especially a small business.
Too-easy credit and millions of bad loans made during the U.S. housing bubble paved the way for the financial calamity and Great Recession that followed. Today, by contrast, credit is too tight. Mortgage loans are particularly hard to get, creating a problem for the housing market and the broader economy.
Small- and medium-sized businesses need access to a diverse range of finance options, including non-bank lending. These new forms of finance are still small in scale today but they should, over time, bring additional choice and greater competition to the lending market.
Today, if you look at financial systems around the globe, more than half the population of the world - out of six billion people, more than three billion - do not qualify to take out a loan from a bank. This is a shame.
The universe of mortgage lending has gotten to the point where there is a place in it for everybody.
It's easy to get a loan unless you need it.