The return to the attack of the redoubtable, indefatigable Peter Siddle lent the pace attack some control and, from it, a cutting edge.
The excesses in real estate and banking here were profound, with banks lending at an astonishing pace, often to customers who were poor risks and did not understand the fine print.
But since then, despite tumultuous conditions recently in very short-term, interbank lending — known as the money market — banks in the euro zone have continued to lend at the pace that prevailed before the crisis erupted in early August, central bank officials said.
Even in golf, a sport whose pace lends itself to lyrical, thoughtful commentary, sometimes an instant reaction is required, and when a brilliant shot is played then the heat is on to come up with something apposite.
Not only are banks unable to continue lending at anything like their previous pace, but capital markets are now sucking money out of the diminished pool available for mortgage lending.
Lending to households rose at the fastest pace in five months in July.
Broad measures of money supply reflect not just the extra renminbi put into the financial system by the central bank but also the pace at which banks are lending that money.
At a 2 percent inflation rate, investors would need to be paid $2 for every $100 they lent just to keep pace.
At the core of the test will be a judgment about whether each of the country's 19 biggest banks has enough money to withstand a deep recession and, if not, how much more capital it needs to be able to lend at a healthy pace, according to regulators.
Lending in most rich economies was still lower in the third quarter of 2010 than a year earlier, but the pace of the decline in lending has eased markedly in the last couple of quarters.
