Mr. John A. Moran:

I was wondering how long it would take before banks would come up in this conversation since normally when I appeared in this committee room it was always to talk about banks. I might let Mr. Butler come in on this because, as a lender, he has much more experience directly on it. The important point to remember is that we are going through one of the worst recessions the State has ever faced and that will have an impact on firms and households and their ability to repay loans. We also know that banks are supposed to be making loans that they have an expectation of getting repaid. That is why it all needs to knit together. The guarantee scheme we have today is probably not appropriate for banks as enough support for them to be lending to firms that already are in weak shape. We need to fix those in order to then use the bank channel, which is a very valuable resource to move quickly-----