<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div class=""><p data-elm-loc="1" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 4px 0px 18px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 19.6252px; vertical-align: baseline; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: calc(1.5em + 0.3333vw); color: rgb(17, 17, 17); font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;" class="">Actions by federal regulators and Republicans in Congress over the past two years have paved the way for banks and other financial companies to issue more than $1 trillion in risky corporate loans, sparking fears that Washington and Wall Street are repeating the mistakes made before the financial crisis.</p><p data-elm-loc="2" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 4px 0px 18px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 19.6252px; vertical-align: baseline; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: calc(1.5em + 0.3333vw); color: rgb(17, 17, 17); font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;" class="">The moves undercut policies put in place by banking regulators six years ago that aimed to prevent high-risk lending from once again damaging the economy.</p><p data-elm-loc="3" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 4px 0px 18px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 19.6252px; vertical-align: baseline; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: calc(1.5em + 0.3333vw); color: rgb(17, 17, 17); font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;" class="">Now, regulators and even White House officials are struggling to comprehend the scope and potential dangers of the massive pool of credits, known as leveraged loans, they helped create.</p><p data-elm-loc="4" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 4px 0px 18px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 19.6252px; vertical-align: baseline; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: calc(1.5em + 0.3333vw); color: rgb(17, 17, 17); font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;" class="">Goldman Sachs, Wells Fargo, JP Morgan Chase, Bank of America and other financial companies have originated these loans to hundreds of cash-strapped companies, many of which could be unable to repay if the economy slows or interest rates rise.</p><p data-elm-loc="5" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 4px 0px 18px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 19.6252px; vertical-align: baseline; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: calc(1.5em + 0.3333vw); color: rgb(17, 17, 17); font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;" class="">“This means that the next downturn that we have could be more serious and longer-lasting and more difficult to deal with than it would have been if we had constrained these practices,” former Federal Reserve chair Janet L. Yellen said in an interview.</p><p data-elm-loc="6" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 4px 0px 18px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 19.6252px; vertical-align: baseline; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: calc(1.5em + 0.3333vw); color: rgb(17, 17, 17); font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;" class="">The lending boom was precipitated, in part, by the rush to water down regulations… more link below</p></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/how-regulators-republicans-and-big-banks-fought-for-a-big-increase-in-lucrative-but-risky-corporate-loans/2019/04/06/08c8c" style="font-size: 27px;" class="">https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/how-regulators-republicans-and-big-banks-fought-for-a-big-increase-in-lucrative-but-risky-corporate-loans/2019/04/06/08c8c</a></body></html>