Credit crisis trickling down to smaller banks
Beset by bad real-estate loans, thousands of small and mid-sized banks across the U.S. are tightening their lending, leading to a credit crunch for local businesses. Analysts say 50 or so of these banks could fail within 18 months, while some of the others are likely to shutter individual branches or look for merger partners to keep them afloat. New York Times, The (02/27)