Pearls of Wisdom from Financial Wizards in 2007

In early July 2007, Chuck Prince, then chief executive of financial behemoth Citigroup Inc., rightly noted that “when the music stops, in terms of liquidity, things will get complicated.” At the time, he remained optimistic: “as long as the music is playing, you’ve got to get up and dance. We’re still dancing.”



William Conway, one of the founders of private equity firm Carlyle Group. In his annual letter to the firm’s staff earlier this year, he acknowledged that “this liquidity environment cannot go on forever […] the longer it lasts the worse it will be when it ends.”