Didn't some exec just come out and say everything was fine? Which is executive-ease for saying "OMFG we're going down!"
When the exectuive says everything is "fine", s/he is quite honestly stating "This is the end". I will illustrate this point via Merriam Webster's on-line listing for "fine": Main Entry: fine Pronunciation: \ˈfīn\ Function: noun Etymology: Middle English, from Anglo-French fin, fine, from Latin finis boundary, end
Now I'm just speculating here, and by no means do I believe or implying this is happening because no one really gives a shit anymore. But would this news prompt a bank run on non-FDIC insured deposits? Many municipalities and county governments have banking relationships with these giants like Citigroup.
Lying assholes. It's always the same - Lehman, Bear, AIG, WaMu... "Blah, blah, blah...I'm the CEO, and we're perfectly solvent and liquid and the world is peachy...blah, blah, blah..." Charlie Gasbagrino must be having a heart attack - he's been defending Citi and its lame ass CEO all the way from $50 to $3.30. The Treasury will arrange a marriage for Shitty, and the taxpayers will eat their toxic waste.
I would assume this is so they don't have to file chapter 11 next week. Figure no one is big enough to buy them outright and a merger with another giant would be logistical mess. Even if they want to sell parts off and move on as a smaller firm, that is going to take time and they will need operating cash. If nothing is done and the stock goes to 50 cents next week, what other choice would they have besides chapter 11 and a fire sale on all the good assets along with the bad? A big loan here would buy them time in order to get leaner. The ironic thing to me in all this is it strikes me as the doom and gloom that was thrown about before the TARP passed is exactly what is now happening because although the TARP passed we are just sitting on our hands and don't want to deal with the toxic waste... The thing that really scares me is that maybe the treasury got a better look at just how toxic those assets were after the TARP passed and simply have no idea what to do now. Paulson is just wasting time here so that he can run out of town in a few months.
May I have some emergency cash as well? Christmas is coming, and I'd like to travel the world in first class....and get some stuff too. 10 mil should do it...for now!
is TARP empty? I thought there was only $50B left in the TARP from the first $350 they sourced. Anyone have the latest numbers.