Mar 04 2009
The Bastards are Broke - Are We Going to Keep Throwing Money at Them?
Citibank is broke. BROKE. They are insolvent if you want to use the fancier term. They were one of the original beneficiaries of TARP funds and will likely need more. Let’s be clear we have already nationalized them by giving them federal dollars, but instead of wiping out of the shareholders and cleaning out management we continue to let the incompetent foxes watch the hen house…on our dime.
This has got to stop. AIG, Bank of America, Citi and the rest of the insolvent bastards need to be taken over, cleaned out and sold back as smaller, leaner BANKING INSTITUIONS…no investment banking or none of that other shit. In AIG’s case, insurance only. How much longer of this foolishness are we going to have to take:
Furthermore, Citi’s 10K spells out how many of its businesses — even the stars — are troubled. It is in fact remarkable to remember that only a year ago CFO Gary Crittenden spent a part of a FORTUNE interview extolling the profitability of the credit-card business. It may indeed someday return to glory. But Citi’s figures show that the business went from close to $5 billion in profits in both 2006 and 2007 to a skinny $166 million in 2008, all of that earned outside the U.S. The underlying problem for credit cards, of course, IS large charges for bills not being paid by cardholders.
