that's really not what it means, it means that if you owe the bank enough money (which is probably more than 100 million nowadays for any significant bank) then it is you in the position of power in relation to the bank, when the bank comes and says hey we need the money sure you have the "problem" that you need to pay it, but let's say you can pay it no sweat, but you'd rather not because reasons so you say hmm, I think I would like to renegotiate the interest and wait a year before paying, and unless things are very extreme the bank will probably have to acquiesce, if they don't they are basically letting the world know hey, we have a 100 million dollar problem, but until they make that announcement that 100 million is just another asset the bank has.

If you owe the bank enough money, you have the power in the relationship in most cases.

> If you owe the bank enough money, you have the power in the relationship in most cases.

If you have any assets, the bank can take them from you.

The thing about renegotiating a loan is you don't have enough assets, but if the bank takes what you do have, you will never be able to repay the loan. I.e. the bank stands to recover more if you are successful than if you are bankrupt.

>If you have any assets, the bank can take them from you

If you have any assets in the less than a billion dollars range, if you have assets over a billion dollars (which if you have enough of a loan in today's money to match the 100 million quote, you probably have over a billion in assets) then the bank knows its looking at a real fight. Nobody likes a real fight.

People like fights they're guaranteed to win quickly.

Thank you. I didn't consider that aspect which is embarassingly obvious now.

"...setting aside bankrupcy and how you can actually usually start over, and that may or may not be all that terrible for you..." You might even be elected president...:-p