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Reader question: What does this headline – Bank lending: You can lead a horse to water… (MarketWatch.com, October 15, 2008) - mean? My comments: It means it's not easy to ask banks to start lending simply because government money is being put into them. In America, for example, hundreds of billions of dollars of government money have been given to the banks, to save the banks from bankruptcy and to encourage banks to start lending again. But under the current circumstance of doom and gloom, banks are reluctant to lend and the government, of course, can't force them to do it. So there, pessimism persists. "Lead a horse to water" is the idiom in question here. It refers to the age old proverb “you can lead a horse to water, but you can't force him to drink.” That is to say, opportunities notwithstanding, it's up to the horse, or by implication the men or women involved to take the initiative. In other words, the desire or motivation has to come from within. I remember watching Marilyn Monroe – The Final Days, a documentary about the Hollywood star of half a century ago and in it, the daughter of Monroe's acting teacher praised the actress, saying that it was remarkable for Monroe to take acting lessons because Monroe was the biggest star of them all. You can lead a horse to water, she said, but you can't make it drink. Monroe genuinely wanted to learn because she wanted to be a good actress, not just one who looks pretty and makes money for the studios. | 
