Professor Elam

have said no to receiving money from the Federal Government.  As one banker says in the article, he is not interested in the Federal Government telling him who should get a loan. No kidding, we saw what happened when FNM decided everyone needed a house. 

Notably the stock prices of well managed small banks have fallen to very low levels. These will be good buys at some point but the confidence level will have to improve before that happens.