<p>Here are your geniuses (and lovers of free markets…except right now ;))…</p>
<p>[Goldman</a> sees $1.2 trillion global credit loss - Yahoo! News](<a href=“http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080325/bs_nm/usa_credit_goldman_dc]Goldman”>http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080325/bs_nm/usa_credit_goldman_dc)</p>
<p>Goldman Sachs ought to know. When you lend at a 30 to 1 ratio, a trillion dollar hit to your capital base can really curtail lending ;). Luckily some institutions are only leveraged 19 to 1 and 13 to 1.</p>
<p>"Goldman Sachs forecasts global credit losses stemming from the current market turmoil will reach $1.2 trillion, with Wall Street accounting for nearly 40 percent of the losses. </p>
<p>U.S. leveraged institutions, which include banks, brokers-dealers, hedge funds and government-sponsored enterprises, will suffer roughly $460 billion in credit losses after loan loss provisions, Goldman Sachs economists wrote in a research note released late on Monday.</p>
<p>Losses from this group of players are crucial because they have led to a dramatic pullback in credit availability as they have pared lending to shore up their capital and preserve their capital requirements, they said.</p>
<p>Goldman estimated $120 billion in write-offs have been reported by these leveraged institutions since the credit crunch began last summer."</p>