It seems that loan rules for the average person are significantly different than for banks. The banks that have received TARP money refuse or can't say how the money is being spent.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2008/12/22/national/w000319S05.DTL&type=business&tsp=1

Hmmmm, wonder what would happen I if obtained a car loan and then took the money to Vegas? I'm sure the bank would have words about accountability and expect to receive a title for collateral.

Risk of deflation?

I found this article interesting....for the simple reason that the author quotes someone talking about the last two recessions and how they showed higher risk of deflation, but it never materialized. Is it possible that the model for predicting this risk is wrong and does not take into account the current pressures in the economy? After all, the accuracy of the model increases with the accuracy of the data, and economic data granularity has improved greatly in 50 years. But that also means that the factors would not have a long period of data to validate the model.