On today's Planet Money:
It looks like business lender CIT will be saved from bankruptcy by a $3 billion loan from its bondholders. The bondholders decided to step forward with the offer after the Treasury Department and the FDIC turned down the company's bids for help — apparently the government decided this institution was not too big too fail. Bill Dunkelberg, chief economist with the National Federation of Independent Business, explains how CIT got into trouble in the first place.
While details of the deal are still being worked out, there is no guarantee the plan won't fall apart. A collapse of CIT could spell disaster for many of the nation's retailers who depend on the company for financing. National chains like Dunkin' Donuts are clients, and the company has even touted its aid to donut franchisees. Planet Money intern Matt Katz hit the streets of New York to find out what a world without donuts would look like.
Bonus: A CIT scrapbook, including pictures of popular hairstyles at the company.
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Derrick Bostrom sends the photos above and below. He writes:
My grandfather ran the Phoenix office for CIT in the 60s and 70s. As coincidence would have it, I've been going through an old scrapbook of his and found some entertaining old documents from his tenure. They will be no doubt useless for your professional purposes, but you might get a kick out of them for a minute or two. I wish I had the entire hairstyle article, but this is all that survives.
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