Word: debtors
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Well, again, throughout history, the center of the world has shifted to where the capital is, where the assets are. You don't see any period in history where things are shifting to the debtors, and America's the largest debtor nation in the history of the world. Unless something's different this time, unless the world's changed very very dramatically, the center of the influence, the center of power, the center of the earth, the center of the globe, is going to be shifting towards Asia, because that's where all the money is. Have you ever heard...
...helped to found it. The IMF "is not a Red Cross philanthropic relief scheme, by which the rich countries come to the rescue of the poor," Keynes declared. Rather, it should be a "highly necessary mechanism, which is at least as useful to the creditor as to the debtor." Rediscovering that sense of equal exchange will be key to the IMF's rebirth...
...slow and tortuous, so many lenders are turning to a more direct approach to get their money back - tapping into the Spaniards' fear of public humiliation. As a result, companies offering costumed collectors who recoup debts simply by showing up at a home or office and embarrassing the debtor in question have proliferated in Spain. But their days may be numbered, now that a committee of the Spanish parliament has approved a proposal to regulate the industry, a first step to bringing an end to the tradition of collection via humiliation. (See pictures of the global financial crisis...
...using costumed collectors dates back to the 1980s, when a company, the Cobrador del Frac (or Tuxedo Collector), began sending out agents dressed in black ties and driving cars emblazoned with the company logo. Others followed suit, in ever more extravagant getups, all of them banking on the debtor's sense of shame to motivate repayment. "Personal honor, your public image, is still very important in Spain," says José Romero of the Zorro Collectors. "If one of our agents shows up at an apartment, everyone in the building is going to know there's a debtor there...
...lethal combination of mismanagement, overexpansion and economic gloom is driving the boom in retail liquidations. During better days, a company could file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, and the banks would finance its operations until the shops could restructure. These so-called debtor-in-possession, or DIP, loans kept the company operating. In the early 1990s, for example, Macy's spent nearly two years in Chapter 11. Today, banks aren't keen to lend to anyone, least of all a retailer in miserable shape. (See the worst business deals...