Business News
US government to rescue Citigroup
Nov 24, 2008, 5:07 GMT
A pedestrian traffic light on a street near a branch of Citibank in Hong Kong, China, 18 November 2008. crisis. EPA/YM YIK
Washington - The US government said late Sunday that it would move to save ailing bank Citigroup by guaranteeing it against huge losses in the midst of the global financial crisis brought on by banks crippled by bad loans.
The US Treasury, the Federal Reserve and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation said in a joint statement that they would guarantee Citigroup against massive losses on its 306 billion dollars in mortgage-related assets. In return, the bank will grant the government shares of stock.
The government will also give Citigroup 20 billion dollars from the 700-billion-dollar financial rescue plan in exchange for stock with an 8 per cent dividend to the Treasury Department. The bank will also face restrictions on executive pay and other areas under the deal.
The hard-hit bank lost 60 per cent of its value last week and it was forced to dodge rumours it planned to sell off large parts of its business.
The largest US bank by assets has experienced four quarters of losses that amount to more than 20 billion dollars. Citigroup has cut more than 75,000 jobs, including 50,000 positions that were chopped just last week.
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Older Talkback
page: 1
...after all, General Motors had just finished 10 years of tooling for tanks, planes, etc., and it was only fair to leg them back up into the business they were actually in.
I'd be the first to scream about this, but the greater good is served by propping them up. I have to admit, the same holds for the auto companies too. They cannot sell cars without warranties that will hold water, so a bailout is the only option.
SP4: It is unfortunate that there are masses of people like you that know nothing about history.
There are many U.S. citizens out there that actually think the universe was created 6,000 years ago and that evolution does not exist. They extrapolate it to things like the grand canyon and force the world to fit their narrow minded viewpoints even though they live in the confines of a little box.
The fact is: The subsidies provided to G.M. had nothing to do with WWII. Those subsidies were a direct consequence of a bogus buildup of national security for Cold War Defenses.
There are a lot of similarities between then and now, however those similarities are lost on the typical U.S. citizen who have the brain capacity of a moron.
If only they could think straight they might be able to stop mass killing muslims and prevent their economy from tanking.
The US Government already owes, not counting Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid obligations, $1.07 x 10^13.
Our state and local governments owe, as far as anyone can tell thus far, $0.19 x 10^13.
US consumer debt including mortgages appears to be something like $9.3 x 10^13. Figuring out how much debt accrued by US corporations turns out to be a difficult to ascertain with any real accuracy.
Also let us remember that US currency, made up of Federal Reserve notes and heavily debased coins (US coinage may as well be paper), are backed by nothing more than government bonds, but American and Foreign. That's right, the greenback is backed by debt so it is really nothing more than more debt. Because of this, we must consider all US currency in circulation as part of our debt load, that amounts to $829,000,000,000.00 or $0.89 x 10^13.
So the total of VISIBLE debt we Americans are responsible for amounts to $11.39 x 10^13 dollars.
Given that the Federal Reserve and the Treasury Department are handing trillion dollar blocks of money as though they were lollipops means that the visible debt we owe is just the tip of a very large iceberg that is NOT getting smaller as the debt is paid, but is growing larger as further debt is accrued.
Cries that the US consumer needs 'access to more credit' is rather like saying we need to douse a burning man with gasoline. We need to throw the drowning man an anchor. Give the fat guy another order fries and a bigger malt. He'll get better.
Lance is referring to 'Engine' Charlie Wilson as opposed to 'Electric' Charlie Wilson or even just plain old 'Charlie Wilson' who saw to it that the Afghanis broke up the Soviet Union.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Erwin_Wilson
See also the 'Revolt of the Admirals' which preceeded Engine Charlie's tenure at the Pentagon.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revolt_of_the_Admirals
Americans be warned! What you are doing now has already been tried by the Japanese Government.
www.moneyweek.com/news-and-charts/economics/japans-post-bubble-depressi on-is-a-warning-to-us.aspx
It will NOT work. It will only MAKE MATTERS WORSE.
Sayonara.
Give the bailout money to the public and let them use it to prop up these companies. Something tells me we aren't going to get out of this world alive.........
Re:''Something tells me we aren't going to get out of this world alive...''
Short of becoming an interplanetary colonist, no. Giving money away to anyone without any prospect of a return is rather like filling someone's fire extinguisher with gasoline. It is funny exactly once and then only if you have a macabre sense of humor.
Fortunately for me, I happen to have a macabre sense of humor. This is going to be fun to watch.
..the government has given trillions to other nations with no chance of getting it back....so why the sad face about at least giving it to corporations situated in the USA?
The answer to that question is obvious:
'Build a man a fire and he's warm for hours. Light a man on fire and he's warm for the rest of his life'
Obviously the U.S. government has EVERYONE on welfare and it is bad. The U.S. government is full of financial morons.
It is better for people to figure out how to solve their own god damn problem, or risk being lit on fire.
Me? I don't have a long face. It's fun watching people butt heads with reality. They are always so relieved when they finally stop. Take a hard look at all those countries we have given money to, including the European countries. Has it done any of them any real good? No! Now, take a hard look at the US and tell me what you see.
The United States has been a socialist country for decades. Now, after a Republican President and his Secretary of the Treasury have begun buying up our banks with money the government does not really have, there is no way the truth can remain hidden. One may, if he or she chooses, ignore reality. Anyone who still thinks that the United States is a capitalist country or that our political leadership, any of it, believes in capitalism is in as bad a mental shape as Saddam Hussein's Press Secretary.
Spare me the partisan posturing, please! John McCain is as much a socialist, as is Barak Obama. Take a hard look at John McCain's campaign promises and try to tell me otherwise. Collectivism is now ruling the entire world. It tries to wear a capitalist face. It lies and says that it is protecting your freedoms, but is it?
The President-elect is now talking about implementing a universal draft. Not calling for volunteers, but a mandatory, you will join or Uncle Sam will force you to join, DRAFT. You will not necessarily have to serve in the military, but you WILL serve or you WILL go to jail. Rahm Emanuel is running around claiming this idea for his own. It isn't. Republicans floated this idea and championed it back during the Vietnam War.
Who was spouting off about mandatory service during his campaign? Why, John McCain, that's who.
Now we are going to find out. The US has been carrying these parasites for decades. Now there are so many of them that they are at very real risk of starving to death. I think it's funny. It's always funny when the bad guys inflict their own just desserts on themselves.
Whoo-wha!
It's a sh-t sandwich and we all get to take a bite. Just remember a couple of things:
We need to think about the greater good. Is it better to prop up a weak bank than have a bank run? I think not. That, Simon, does not make it socialism. The American banking system has ALWAYS had a government hand in it. Never, in it's history, has it run by itself. Heck, it borrows from the Fed, so it gets it's money from the government! Nonetheless, with this president, I suspect the urge is overwelming...
One other thing Simon: The volunteer military was made law by a Republican president and the draft was abolished by a republican president. These wars have been prosecuted by a volunteer force, which a Republican president managed to achieve all his goals with in Iraq, which has less violence and more democracy today, than Pakistan. If anyone brings in a draft, it certainly was not republican-driven, nor was it necessary in order to win in Iraq. If you get a draft, it's the black guy driving it.
RE:'It's a sh-t sandwich and we all get to take a bite. Just remember a couple of things:'
Why should anyone be required to do so? Who made this particular sandwich and why did they make it?
RE:'We need to think about the greater good.'
Like grandma's skirts, this little phrase covers a multitude of sins.
RE:'Is it better to prop up a weak bank than have a bank run? I think not.'
It is better to have the run. Why? Because it keeps the bankers honest.
RE:'That, Simon, does not make it socialism.'
Oh, yes it does.
RE:'The American banking system has ALWAYS had a government hand in it. Never, in it's history, has it run by itself. Heck, it borrows from the Fed, so it gets it's money from the government! Nonetheless, with this president, I suspect the urge is overwelming...'
Not always and the current system is well outside the letter of the law in the Constitution and it is light years away from Constitutional intent.
RE:'One other thing Simon: The volunteer military was made law by a Republican president and the draft was abolished by a republican president. These wars have been prosecuted by a volunteer force, which a Republican president managed to achieve all his goals with in Iraq, which has less violence and more democracy today, than Pakistan. If anyone brings in a draft, it certainly was not republican-driven, nor was it necessary in order to win in Iraq. If you get a draft, it's the black guy driving it.'
To what advantage of those volunteers and their families? Why did we go into Iraq in the first place? Did we go there to prevent weapons of mass destruction being developed by the Iraqi dictator, or were there other, little-discussed reasons? Did President really and truly believe that Saddam Hussein was posing a real threat to us? I have my doubts. It seemed to me unlikely that Hussein could produce such weapons given that we had him plucked like a chicken, but I believed that our governors had access to information the rest of us did not. Turns out that either they were wrong for reasons having nothing to do with the actual facts, or that there were other reasons for invading Iraq.
Anyway you look at it, our invasion of Iraq was an exercise in bad judgment COMPOUNDED
...by MORE bad judgment.
The war in Iraq is a major contributor to our current financial straights. It is a major contributor as a direct cause of the housing crisis. It drove up the price of gasoline to the point that people who would have otherwise been making their house notes could no longer afford the house AND going to work.
Now then, do we have a responsibility as US citizens to run around the world and force every other people of every other nation to accept our ideals as the standard upon which they should found THEIR government? Why?
Ahhhh Simon, the pessimist and Lance the wing nut..............
Its not all or nothing dudes, Yes, Bad capitalists are either now in prison, are going there or are now at the mercy of any taxpaying , working Americans who will now walk into a bank and spit on them [bad capitalists]on their way out after playing 'monopoly for a few minutes with them......'
The American consumer can now fight with them on an even playing field......we can act as one by collectively refusing to buy their cheap shit and buy better or go over to the barter thing and really piss em off.
Look at the price of available cars in about 90 days from now and see who's now running the show. Smart consumers can stick it to the (bad) man now and feel so utterly good about it. I'm looking forward to that fun.
Haggle away you all -- have a party!
'collectively refusing to buy their cheap shit'
Bwaaaaahhhahahaha!!!!!!!
The U.S. consumer is stupid and never does anything intelligent in a collective way.
Now, go to Walmart and buy your cheap shit now.
When they say 'greed is good' referring to capitalism, I bet you thought they meant good for innovation.
Man were you ever wrong. It means the consumer is so greedy that they will buy cheap trinkets while mortgaging the future of their children. They are so greedy that they sell their own baby's future for another shot of booze and another piece of consumer plastic.
Baaahahahah!!! Man are you screwed!!!
The collective wisdom of the consumer is all about greed. They will eat tainted food from China just to save a few pennies. They will poison their children with cheap plastic containers just so they can throw them away instead of wash and reuse the container. The examples are limitless.
Welcome to your hell.
speak for yourself!
Believe me: I keep as far way from the U.S. consumer as possible.
Especially this time of season when they are all in frantic wild hysteria to buy anything they can get their hands on, especially if it is cheap.
Christmas consumerism: Bah. That is for morons.
What the US government does it will take America at least a hundred years to recover from this financial collapse, the economic crisis, and this colossal recession. They just don't know what to do about it. What they have done so far hasn't worked.
In my honest opinion the USA should be broken up into 50 fully independent republics.
That's thee BEST solution, cause nothing else will work.
Treasury, Fed Said to Unveil Plan to Bolster Consumer Financing
news.yahoo.com/s/bloomberg/20081125/pl_bloomberg/aixcu2ptpecq
Yahoo! Go at it idiots. Do not learn from the past. Do not act intelligently. Buy big gas guzzling trucks. Do the same things you have been doing for the past fifty years.
Your government is begging that you mortgage your children's future and repeat the mistakes of the past. Do not save, do not have a future. Buy!, buy! buy! Borrow! Borrow! Borrow!
Gaiacomm International to develop Defeat IED technology
Gaiacomm International will develop Counter (defeat) IED technology for the US Military to be used in Iraq, Afghanistan and other conflict zones. This technology is currently classified because of its accurate nature of detection. When deployed it will be able to detect and disable any device in the ground, on person (suicide bombers), inside vehicle or building's within a determined range, also classified. Soldiers are dying thus, the emphasis on accurate detection. Other technologies currently in the field simply do not operate as planned, thus the need for Gaiacomm's technology.
Gaiacomm also designs arcane electromagnetic weapons systems for use in large areas of complete destruction.
Obama'a economic plan:
Have one last party before paying the piper:
Obama promotes fiscal restraint, big spending
news.yahoo.com/s/ap/obama_economy
Typical credit-addict plan:
Pretend to have fiscal restraint while blowing lots of cash like a mentally ill credit-holic.
Ben Bernanke, the funniest of the funny money men, told another good one this morning. He said that we should stop worrying. The Federal Reserve has pledged $7.4 x 10^13 to insure the banks. That number is so large that hardly anyone can wrap his or her mind around it, which means that it is nearly meaningless. What he is really saying is that he intends to stuff nearly every failing bank as full of digital do-do as is required to keep them afloat.
Here's the truly funny bit. Right now we are seeing deflation. That's because all that credit is evaporating into defaulted loans. The perceived cure, infusions of digital cash backed by nothing, will turn into inflation. How much inflation? How high is up?
..and to think our ancestors came out, lived in sod huts, educated their children (better) in one room school houses and built the most free and powerful nation on earth.
Are we hearing just a little too much whining?
People forget who built this country to begin with and besides, it was built by the sweat of all the people from other countries who immigrated to the U.S. I also have a bone to pick with saying we all go to Walmart to get cheap things. Well, they happen to stock name-brand items as well at better prices, and anyway, what country does this 'lance' hail from? He has never fessed up. He seems to spend a lot of time dissing Americans.
'..and to think our ancestors came out, lived in sod huts...'
when you are ready to solve a problem let us know.
page: 1
lanceNov 24th, 2008 - 15:58:51
During the Eisenhower era, Charles Wilson was General Motors' ticket to government subsidies.
Now it is big banking's turn to sip from the cool aide of government welfare with their man in place in the administration.
it is that simple. Welfare for the rich has always been the American Way.
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