OMG; on my other fave board they are running a pool for the demise of Citibank.

[lildreamer316]

I will let you know how it goes.
I just thought that was funny as hell!!
Anyone wanna start one here?

[Kucinich4America]

1. I'd rather see Bank of America go down actually

Motherfuckers screwed up my credit for a decade.

[Matariki]

3. I've been doing mojo for US Bank to go down.

I hate that bastard company...

[Raine]

7. Washington Mutual is my pick

I despise them.

[malaise]

16. Let me know when the CEOs start jumping out of the

high rise buildings. I want to watch that live.

[trotsky]

25. I'm sure you know that will never happen.

The rules are set up now so that the executive leadership will NEVER suffer from a major business failure - even one of their own making. Oh they'll jump alright, but that golden parachute will cushion the landing.

[hlthe2b]

2. I thought Abu Dhabi had bailed them out

[emilyg]

9. I thought so, too.

[K Gardner]

10. They did bail them out, BUT with a huge price to pay..

something like an 11% Dividend. What I heard was that it's a temporary fix and won't last long. First it was the Chinese, now we'll be owned by the Saudis.

[lildreamer316]

13. ....which was probably the plan all along.

I am not suprised, not one bit.

[sendero]

23. Citi...

... was loaned $$$ so that they could make their normal dividend payment. They borrowed this money at junk bond rates, i.e. 11%.

I think this is a really really REALLY big mistake. But I don't think Citi will fail, there are too many folks they would take down with them.

But they are going to be in trouble for a long time, and they will not be able to borrow this money to pay dividends over the long term. And the market agrees on that, their dividend yield is very high.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

22. they did

[Captain Angry]

4. Citibank as they say, is too big to fail.

Their international presence is so large that even writing down a massive amount of CDOs are not going to affect that company.

If anything, they'll take a BIG bath, a major loss and get a big tax refund next year. Add to that a whole slew of options will be generated at a relatively low stock price so that when they get back to normal, somebody's going to make a pile o' money.

[lildreamer316]

5. Someone on the other board was just mentioning that..

..saying that right now would be a good time to buy.
Yetch.

[donheld]

6. Are you cheating on us????!

:

[lildreamer316]

8. Shhhhhhhh.

Don't tell the others.

[pinniped]

11. HSBC needs to go down.

.

[killbotfactory]

12. All major banks need to go down

long live credit unions

[SoCalDem]

14. Yay... maybe my mortgage info will get lost in the shuffle

[K Gardner]

18. I wonder about that, too, sometimes .. wishin & hopin!

[AlertLurker]

15. How much of the Fed does Citibank control?

This could be nastier than most people realise...

[BadgerLaw2010]

17. The government won't let any of these guys fail. Bailout doesn't compare to FDIC costs.

Same reason the bond insurers will get bailed out. Would you rather spend $2 billion you may get back or $40 billion you won't and that you don't have?

Payments for failure even just up to the $100K limit would be hundreds of billions per bank.

[maine_raptor]

19. I don't know 'bout that.

Right now the dollar is at a low point, and in order to pay off (bailout) the gov would have to print a lot of paper. To back that paper up, the gov would need to sell some notes. Don't you think the overseas folks might be a bit hesitant to buy?

Only other way to fund the bailout would be to raise taxes. Don't quite see the Repub's willing to try and sell THAT during an election year (would be VERY NICE to see them try, though! ).

[BadgerLaw2010]

20. You don't understand. The FDIC payment if they DON'T bail out is far larger and not optional.

The amount is dozens of times higher. It doesn't take that much money to grease a bank so it continues to function. It takes an enormous amount to compensate depositors for total loss.

No matter how big a bailout may be, it pales next to the alternative of allowing big bank failure.

[maine_raptor]

24. Oh, I understand that, but what I'm saying is that

it's going to be a Hard Sell no matter how you do it.

Taking the USG deeper in debt will be a big political hoo-raw. My question is: "Will the Saudis, Asian Interests, etc. be willing to buy enough during the time it takes Congress to figure out what to do, or will it drag out over the coming year plus (cause you know it ain't going to be done during '08)?"

It's not just money, but time too. How long can a "bank" last waiting to get paid?

[Snarkturian Clone]

21. Citibank just arrived in my city last month-

12 new branches. Oh well, guess they're fucked!

[PVnRT]

26. As my refinanced college loans are through them, I'm hoping that doesn't happen

As are all the other college grads with loans through the Student Loan Corporation.