US financial institutions should have continued to lend to distressed borrowers, in order to prevent a spiral in which credit rationing forced price reductions and intensified world deflation. Instead, US banks, widely blamed for the international lending boom that preceded the bust, were so intimidated and weakened that the flow of American credit stopped.
美国的金融机构本该继续向那些身陷困境的借贷人放贷，以避免由信贷比率导致的商品价格下滑以及全球通货紧缩的继续恶化。谁知在早前的全球信贷膨胀中兴风作浪的美国银行却畏首畏尾，弱不禁风，导致美国的信贷流基本停滞。