No Pity For CITI- US Watchdog Blasts Bank's Lack of Bailout Exit

New York Post ^ | 04 Sep 2009 | MARK DeCAMBRE

[BGHater]

The head of the committee overseeing how Uncle Sam is spending its bailout dollars offered withering criticism of the feds' handling of Citigroup's rescue, blasting regulators for their lack of transparency -- and the absence of any clear exit strategy.

Noting that other companies that have received federal aid have served up proposals to pay back the money, Elizabeth Warren, chairman of the Congressional Oversight Panel, had harsh words about the lack of such a plan in the case of Citi, which has received $45 billion in rescue cash and is more than one-third owned by US taxpayers.

"Too big to fail and not strong enough to succeed is obviously no exit strategy at all," Warren told The Post in an interview.

Indeed, while companies ranging from General Motors to American International Group have at least paid lip service to the idea of paying back billions in aid -- even if there are questions about their ability to do so -- Citi has been oddly silent about the topic.

Even more troubling: Federal regulators have articulated neither a plan to extricate themselves from Citi nor any demands that the troubled bank put forth such a strategy.

The government's lack of an exit plan adds fresh worry to an already-long list of concerns looming over the bank, which has struggled under the weight of badly performing securities on its balance sheets.

That lack of clarity became even more glaring this week after Wells Fargo and Bank of America each said they were looking to pay back at least some of the billions they've received under the Troubled Asset Relief Program.

[org.whodat]

LOL, none of those POS plan on paying anything back!! Maybe with a 1% interest in the move rights, title How to Fleece the tax payers by Goldman Sacks.

[Bean Counter]

[BGHater]

:(

[Mortrey]

Just today, got our “bill” from these jerks—they went up on our interest rate from 11% to 29.6%-—ok, ok....so I was a little late getting the bill in last month-—tough times.
We called—the first customer “service” person told us that we were specifically targeted— (we have(HAD) a large credit amount we could access—NOT that she implied this)-—we asked for a supervisor, who denied THAT was the reason.
Seems we’ll LOSE the card in 2011 IF we deny the change in interest rate hike and just let the card expire by 2011. Sounds to me like they want to get rid of the customers that have access to the extra credit on their cards, as they are either nervous about “bankruptcy whores” who will charge and then renig, or they just want to rid themselves of anyone that the government won’t “bail” them out from—ya know.....the “little” people. The ones that are having a tough time. Ohhhhhh...if only WE were too big to fail.......