13 Mar 2008

Bankers And Wankers

Carlyle Capital becomes insolvent (h/t Atrios). It is the first time a Carlyle Group fund has failed.
By yesterday the fund had defaulted on $16.6 billion of debt and said it expected to default soon on its remaining debt. The fund's $21.7 billion in assets were exclusively in AAA mortgage-backed securities issued by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, traditionally considered secure and conservative investments, which it was using as collateral against its loans.
How long before the Carlyle Group starts letting its other big assets go? I'm talking about high profile "advisors" like George H. W. Bush, John Major, Fidel Ramos, James A. Baker...