[Tanada]

Does it come to mind that banks do not invest into the "real economy" because there is nowhere to invest profitably in the "real economy".

The "real economy" comes from books that are so thoroughly cooked it is exceedingly difficult to know what is really going on. Playing with deposit numbers at the Fed bank in your district is easy and the book keeping is simple, why invest in risk when you can invest in safe and still earn money?

[davep]

Does it come to mind that banks do not invest into the "real economy" because there is nowhere to invest profitably in the "real economy".

I think that's correct to an extent. If interest rates are so low, banks are better served investing elsewhere rather than lending money (this can be seen by the panic in the stock market at the merest hint of higher interest rates, where banks would move back to lending rather than inflating the stock market bubble).

But having nowhere to (more) profitably lend just makes the state of the real economy even worse.

[ennui2]

Does it come to mind that banks do not invest into the "real economy" because there is nowhere to invest profitably in the "real economy".

The "real economy" comes from books that are so thoroughly cooked it is exceedingly difficult to know what is really going on. Playing with deposit numbers at the Fed bank in your district is easy and the book keeping is simple, why invest in risk when you can invest in safe and still earn money?

There's plenty of investment potential in high-tech these days, and lots of money flowing into it.