BernieHund: The Political Watchdog

Who would have guessed that Citi would be considering a sell-off… in part or as a whole?

Citigroup Inc. is considering auctioning off parts of the firm or selling the company outright, according to a media report late Thursday.

This report comes following a day when Citigroup saw its shares trading for $4.55. Perhaps, we are seeing how much damage a CEO can do to a company. Vikram Pandit, one year on the job as CEO, has come under fire for his leadership or lack thereof.

Investors are quickly losing faith in Citigroup (C). Shares of the company, once the largest and mightiest U.S. bank by assets and market value, have fallen 66% in November, and finished down 1.85, to 4.55, on Nov. 20. The last time the shares traded that low was 14 years ago. While the stock sank, the price soared on its credit default swaps, which measure the cost of insuring Citi’s debt—another worrisome sign. The market woes are raising speculation that some sort of government intervention or major outside investment may be necessary.

Citigroup has been doing what it could to keep its investors calm as it continued to fritter away taxpayer dollars.

Citi is doing its best to calm investors, reiterating that the bank isn’t in critical condition. Citi issued a formal statement on Thursday, Nov. 20, saying that it “has a very strong capital and liquidity position and a unique global franchise. We are focused on executing our strategy, including our targeted expense and legacy asset reductions, and we believe the benefits will be seen over time.”

Obviously, Citi has become one of Paulson’s Paupers in recent days, having received some $25 Billion from the bailout package while saying that the bonus money for the those who sit around the big table is still a viable expectation.

With all the talk of waning confidence not only in respect to Citigroup but in reference to most of our nation’s major corporations, it seems that no one at the top is seeing the picture being shown in the rest of the country.

The fact is that no one in middle American believes one word that comes from Wall Street or Washington. We have seen corporate statements published one after another, only to learn that all the rhetoric presented was just that… rhetoric. There is no substance behind the statements.

There is absolutely no point in going through the litany of lies that have put the American people in jeopardy. But, for now words are just words, and all are suspect. While we all understand the importance of solidifying our economic situation, most of us have seen that the first money and the only money has gone to bail out the rich and infamous. We have watched our smaller banks being consumed by the Big Failures for no good reason, other than Paulson, Bernanke and Kashkari are willing to feed the chum to the sharks.

The talk on Main Street, as business owners close their doors for the last time, is let the big boys fail. We have accepted our fate. We have seen that we cannot get a loan to keep our Mom and Pop shops open… and we aren’t talking billions, not even millions, not even hundreds of thousands.

It has not been an easy decision for the average American. But, the truth is that when we have to suck it up we can and we will. When gas prices got so high that we could barely afford to get to work and back, we stopped driving. Now, that the banks have stopped lending to small businesses, we have stopped asking. And, one day Washington and Wall Street may realize that without us there is no need for them.