Why borrow?

For large companies such as Illinois Tool Works, the price of borrowed money isn't the problem. The company had $1.3 billion in cash on its balance sheet at the end of June, up from $743 million at the end of 2008. Lower interest rates wouldn't make much of a difference, either. "I could borrow $2 billion tomorrow for 3 1/2 percent," said Speer. "But what am I going to do with it?" "It took us a decade to get in the ditch we are in," Speer said. "There isn't going to be instant gratification to get us out of it. We're going to have to get used to a lower growth economy, and that is going to be a big adjustment for all of us.