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Coming soon to a bank near you…negative interest rates?

We’ve all heard about how the banks won’t lend the money the Fed keeps giving them. If the banks don't lend, the economy won't recover, and the Fed will have trouble generating the inflation needed to lessen the burden of our debt binge. We’re not the only country with that problem, of course, and last month Sweden introduced a new way to get its banks to lend: negative interest rates. Swedish Riksbank entered uncharted territory when it became the world’s first central bank to introduce negative interest rates on bank deposits. In effect, it is a fine on banks that refuse to lend, since the banks are holding money that actually declines every day it sits in their vaults. If banks are actually penalized for holding money, they have to lend it, right? Maybe. Or they might just charge higher interest rates on loans, or throw in the towel and go broke. Whatever happens, other countries are watching very closely, and if it works as intended, who knows? At this stage, the US seems unlikely to introduce the policy, since there have been no hints from policymakers about it being an option. But things change…especially with this administration.