http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=a1GMxUFBOhrY&pos=5 Stiglitz Says U.S. Is Paying for Failure to Nationalize Banks Share Business ExchangeTwitterFacebook| Email | Print | A A A By Bloomberg News Nov. 1 (Bloomberg) -- Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz said the worldâs biggest economy is suffering because of the U.S. governmentâs failure to nationalize banks during the financial crisis. âIt we had done the right thing, we would be able to have more influence over the banks,â Stiglitz told reporters at an economic conference in Shanghai yesterday. âThey would be lending and the economy would be stronger.â Stiglitz has stuck with his view even after the U.S. economy returned to growth in the third quarter and as banksâ share prices climbed this year. President Barack Obama said on Oct. 24 that the nationâs lenders, supported by taxpayers in the crisis, need to âfulfill their responsibilityâ by lending to small businesses still struggling to get credit. Companies such as Citigroup Inc. and Bank of America Corp. benefited from a $700 billion taxpayer-funded bailout package last year. In contrast, Obama said that too many small businesses are still short of money, adding that his administration will âtake every appropriate stepâ to encourage banks to lend. âWe have this very strange situation today in America where we have given banks hundreds of billions of dollars and the president has to beg the banks to lend and they refuse,â Stiglitz said yesterday. âWhat we did was the wrong thing. It has weakened the economy and has increased our deficit, making it more difficult for the future.â While the U.S. economy grew at a 3.5 percent annual rate in the third quarter, the first expansion in more than a year, the economist said the recession is ânowhere nearâ its end, citing rising unemployment and weak demand. The U.S. government plans to alter the way that a similar rescue would be handled in the future. Draft legislation proposes that banks, hedge funds and other financial firms holding more than $10 billion in assets would pay to rescue companies whose collapse would shake the financial system. Citigroup and Bank of America shares have quadrupled from this yearâs lows in March. To contact the reporter on this story: Judy Chen in Shanghai at xchen45@bloomberg.net Last Updated: November 1, 2009 02:33 EST