Thomas Friedman's Former Wealth

Ack! who decided this was going to end well? (from atrios)

Rather than apply for bank loans, General Growth began taking out short-term mortgages on its malls. As the mortgages came due, the company would replace them with even larger mortgages to provide cash for additional acquisitions.

The strategy picked up steam with the emergence of new debt-trading markets. In the mid-1990s, lenders started slicing up commercial mortgages and selling them to multiple investors as bonds. The boom in trading made mortgage-backed debt much cheaper and more plentiful -- as long as investors were willing to buy.

General Growth was soon at the forefront of this market. And because the company was borrowing mostly against its individual properties, lenders didn't place restrictions on its overall debt load, allowing it to accumulate more and more debt.

General Growth is run by the Bucksbaum family, one of whom happens to be Thomas Friedman's wife. If you're going to float your debts in this manner you have to have good strategic forecasting and planning- you need when and how to pull back.