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Feds may end up owning CitiGroup

Posted: Mon Jun 01, 2009 5:38 am
by Ibanez
You never want to have the government involved in your business,” said Orlando, whose firm owns 7.3 million JPMorgan Chase & Co. shares and 1,483 shares of Citigroup. “They’re not businessmen; they’re bureaucrats. They don’t understand capitalism, they don’t understand the profit motive and they don’t understand the financial industry.”
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid= ... refer=home


That's the smartest thing anyone has ever said...ever. :lol:

Re: Feds may end up owning CitiGroup

Posted: Mon Jun 01, 2009 8:05 am
by dbackjon
Apparantly, there are a lot of people that used to run banks that didn't understand capitalism or the financial industry either.

Re: Feds may end up owning CitiGroup

Posted: Mon Jun 01, 2009 8:35 am
by Ibanez
dbackjon wrote:Apparantly, there are a lot of people that used to run banks that didn't understand capitalism or the financial industry either.
They understood it, they failed to pay attention to the trends. They failed to grow. They failed to compete.

Re: Feds may end up owning CitiGroup

Posted: Mon Jun 01, 2009 8:49 am
by AZGrizFan
dbackjon wrote:Apparantly, there are a lot of people that used to run banks that didn't understand capitalism or the financial industry either.
Yeah. Silly us, huh Jon? I mean, us "bankers" should have PREDICTED that 30% of our members would just arbitrarily decided to STOP paying their credit cards. We should have PREDICTED that people with 820 FICO scores would walk in and hand over the keys to their recently purchased SUV in droves because they didn't feel like paying for $4.00/gallon gas. Hell, we should have PREDICTED $4.00/gallon gasoline. We should have PREDICTED that housing prices would fall 50-75% in some areas, causing people to walk away from a (now) depreciating asset that they can't use as an ATM anymore.

I don't know about you, but MY crystal ball is broken. Got one I can spare? :roll: :roll: :roll: :roll:

Re: Feds may end up owning CitiGroup

Posted: Mon Jun 01, 2009 9:14 am
by dbackjon
AZGrizFan wrote:
dbackjon wrote:Apparantly, there are a lot of people that used to run banks that didn't understand capitalism or the financial industry either.
Yeah. Silly us, huh Jon? I mean, us "bankers" should have PREDICTED that 30% of our members would just arbitrarily decided to STOP paying their credit cards. We should have PREDICTED that people with 820 FICO scores would walk in and hand over the keys to their recently purchased SUV in droves because they didn't feel like paying for $4.00/gallon gas. Hell, we should have PREDICTED $4.00/gallon gasoline. We should have PREDICTED that housing prices would fall 50-75% in some areas, causing people to walk away from a (now) depreciating asset that they can't use as an ATM anymore.

I don't know about you, but MY crystal ball is broken. Got one I can spare? :roll: :roll: :roll: :roll:
Actually, there were economists that predicted a lot of that, the spike in gas prices, the housing bubble, etc. The Bankers in their hubris thought that the good times would last forever.

Re: Feds may end up owning CitiGroup

Posted: Mon Jun 01, 2009 7:25 pm
by Ivytalk
Why shouldn't the guvmint buy more of yet another EX-member of the DJIA? :shock:

Re: Feds may end up owning CitiGroup

Posted: Mon Jun 01, 2009 7:28 pm
by dbackjon
Ivytalk wrote:Why shouldn't the guvmint buy more of yet another EX-member of the DJIA? :shock:
When they get 30, they give everyone in America a new toaster oven.

Re: Feds may end up owning CitiGroup

Posted: Mon Jun 01, 2009 10:23 pm
by AZGrizFan
dbackjon wrote:
AZGrizFan wrote:
Yeah. Silly us, huh Jon? I mean, us "bankers" should have PREDICTED that 30% of our members would just arbitrarily decided to STOP paying their credit cards. We should have PREDICTED that people with 820 FICO scores would walk in and hand over the keys to their recently purchased SUV in droves because they didn't feel like paying for $4.00/gallon gas. Hell, we should have PREDICTED $4.00/gallon gasoline. We should have PREDICTED that housing prices would fall 50-75% in some areas, causing people to walk away from a (now) depreciating asset that they can't use as an ATM anymore.

I don't know about you, but MY crystal ball is broken. Got one I can spare? :roll: :roll: :roll: :roll:
Actually, there were economists that predicted a lot of that, the spike in gas prices, the housing bubble, etc. The Bankers in their hubris thought that the good times would last forever.
Economists are like assholes. Nay, economists ARE assholes. Survey 100 economists and you'll get 50 to say one thing, and 50 to say another. Like I said, my crystal ball is broken. :roll: :roll:

Re: Feds may end up owning CitiGroup

Posted: Mon Jun 01, 2009 10:34 pm
by native
Was it not the politicians who revoked Glass-Steagal?

It was CERTAINLY the politicians who gave us Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae.

How did the whole derivative mess escape the notice of regulators?

Re: Feds may end up owning CitiGroup

Posted: Mon Jun 01, 2009 11:01 pm
by dbackjon
native wrote:Was it not the politicians who revoked Glass-Steagal?

It was CERTAINLY the politicians who gave us Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae.

How did the whole derivative mess escape the notice of regulators?
So, you are saying that capitalism is incapible of self-regulation, and needs governmental control.

Re: Feds may end up owning CitiGroup

Posted: Tue Jun 02, 2009 6:25 pm
by ASUMountaineer
dbackjon wrote:
AZGrizFan wrote:
Yeah. Silly us, huh Jon? I mean, us "bankers" should have PREDICTED that 30% of our members would just arbitrarily decided to STOP paying their credit cards. We should have PREDICTED that people with 820 FICO scores would walk in and hand over the keys to their recently purchased SUV in droves because they didn't feel like paying for $4.00/gallon gas. Hell, we should have PREDICTED $4.00/gallon gasoline. We should have PREDICTED that housing prices would fall 50-75% in some areas, causing people to walk away from a (now) depreciating asset that they can't use as an ATM anymore.

I don't know about you, but MY crystal ball is broken. Got one I can spare? :roll: :roll: :roll: :roll:
Actually, there were economists that predicted a lot of that, the spike in gas prices, the housing bubble, etc. The Bankers in their hubris thought that the good times would last forever.
So, where was the government? Oh yeah, bribing the banks to continue lending to those who couldn't afford it. To think the government could have done any better is truly naive, and basically clueless.