More important, the government's figures misleadingly include land purchases and mergers and acquisitions.
In 1980 President Jimmy Carter imposed credit controls in a ham-fisted effort to reduce inflation: banks that exceeded targets for some types of loans such as for consumer purchases and mergers had to set aside extra reserves.
Punch owns 6,770 of Britain's 52,000 pubs, an estate built over a decade of frenetic multibillion-pound purchases, sales, mergers and demergers at the height of Britain's leveraged buyout boom.
So it goes with spinoffs, when business units are separated, acquisitions, when business units are purchased, and mergers, when business units are combined.
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In September, Hewlett-Packard announced its plan to purchase Compaq, the largest merger in the history of the computer business.
But he is opposing the company's planned purchase of Compaq Computer, a merger that if rejected by shareholders will certainly bring Ms. Fiorina's downfall at Hewlett-Packard.
The government is also expected to approve the latest mega-media merger, the purchase of Vivendi Universal entertainment assets by General Electric, owner of NBC, a deal that was formalized on Wednesday.
But he has visited a major shareholder group in opposing the company's planned purchase of Compaq Computer, a merger that if rejected by shareholders would bring Ms. Fiorina's downfall.
The insolvency of Bear Stearns in March of 2008 prompted the Federal Reserve of New York to infuse $25 billion into the bank to provide life support pending a merger or purchase.
