hairbrained lending

Jeremy Warner of the Independent seems to understand the problem:

"The disasters of the past year and a half have demonstrated that as the good times roll, supposedly trustworthy and conservatively run banks are transformed into inveterate gamblers and become completely reckless with our money. Yet nationalised banks hardly make for efficient and well-judged allocation of capital either. With the politicians fully in the driving seat, pork barrel projects and hair-brained lending become the order of the day."