take a haircut
v. phr.— «The intent of such sessions is to identify what creditors will settle for. “But there was no goal seeking,…other than that everyone wanted 100 cents on the dollar. I think that nobody wanted to accept their fate, which was that everybody had to take a haircut.”» —“Living A Corporate Nightmare” by N.R. Kleinfield in Valley Stream, Long Island New York Times June 30, 1982. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
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