[iamthepieman]

Just to clarify I said that low interest rates don't make loans more accessible, just more affordable. I didn't say that inaccessible loans were caused by low interests rates. That wouldn't make any sense as you mentioned.

The Mortgage Credit Availability Index[1] is at around 115. If it had been tracked in 2007 it would have been at 800.

The chart you posted in a previous comment doesn't really address the availability of credit. It just says that businesses are not as concerned about financing and interest rates as other issues. In that same link it reports that 24% of small businesses were planning capital outlays and that 48% explicitly were not looking for a loan. I don't know what to make of that except that, it's not really addressing my point one way or another.

[1] http://www.mbaa.org/ResearchandForecasts/MCAI.htm