Evidence that the statements made in my previous comment are correct: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Discount_window http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Discount_window

Evidence that the statements made in my previous comment are correct: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Discount_window http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Discount_window This is what I meant by saying that even if a bank fails to borrow from other banks to satisfy its reserve requirements, it can just go to the central bank to get the required money, and that therefore reserve requirements are not a constraint on lending. By the way: In case you haven't heard of it, read the Modern Monetary Theory Primer here: http://neweconomicperspectives.org/modern-monetary-theory-primer.html http://neweconomicperspectives.org/modern-monetary-theory-pr... It's very long, and there are a lot of macroeconomic statements in there that can be disputed, but their description of how the monetary system actually works is spot on and well organized.