The US economy will never recover until banks start lending, and they are not doing that now despite claims to the contrary by the financial institutions, real estate developer Donald Trump told CNBC Tuesday.
"Banks are not lending money, no matter how prime you are," Trump said. "The economy can't come back until the banks start lending."
"It's really the money they have been given by the government and they're not lending it," he said.
"I don't think any bank in this country is soliciting loans," Trump said. "Banks are bragging about the facts that they're making loans and they're not making loans."
Unless the government "takes very hard action with the banks and forces them to loan money," the economy won't bounce back, he said.
Banks should stop paying employees millions in bonuses on signing and closing of deals and maybe wait four or five years to see if the loan is good before paying a bonus, he suggested.
As for where to buy, if "you have the cash this is a great time to be in the real-estate business," he said. "You can buy things that are phenomenally priced."
CNBC.com
Donald Trump
They Built It, They Didn't Come
As for the recent turmoil in Dubai, Trump said that a lot of people were looking at the construction going on during the boom and wondering what the purpose was.
"What is the purpose of building so much?" he said. Dubai was like "New York City times 10 in its heyday."
They were asking where are all these people coming from and the answer was they didn't come, he said.