liquidity trap

Situation where bank cash-holdings are rising and banks cannot find sufficient number of qualified borrowers even at extraordinary low rates of interest. It usually arises where people are not buying and firms are not borrowing (for inventory or plant and equipment) because economic prospects look dim, investors are not investing because expected returns from investments are low, and/or a recession is beginning. People and businesses hold on to their cash and thus get trapped in a self-fulfilling prophecy.