The Institutional Risk Analyst

Len Tannenbaum, founder of Tannenbaum Capital, told Bloomberg's Carrol Massar that some BDCs could buckle as the pressure mounts, depending on how leveraged they are, their overall exposure to troubled loans and “how long they’ve swept things under the rug” using such methods as "payment in kind" or PIK to avoid default. “PIK is POOP — Principal On Outstanding Principal — and it doesn’t matter how much, POOP smells,” Tannenbaum said.

The year 2025 was another year of magical thinking ℅ Donald Trump, a man whose mere presence in the room causes everyone else to descend to their most base level. Trump came to Washington as a president who spurned convention and embraced crypto currencies. He rejected New Deal regulation and encouraging greed and self-interest in a way not seen since the years following the Civil War. The impact on financial markets is profound and may continue for some time.