Credit as Percentage of Banks' Balance Sheets Lowest in 40 Years

``Credit is being displaced by cash (reserves), as the Fed's securities purchases result is further dilution of US banks' balance sheets. While some believe this will motivate banks to accelerate lending, as the chart below shows, it hasn't. Credit expansion in the US has been slowing and is well below pre-recession levels.'' -- In other words, banks are still in a depressionary, duck-and-cover mode, thanks to the Fed "rescuing" the financial system (freezing it in a state of near-death limbo)...