Cross-posted at Tall Tales
One week ago today, Citigroup CEO Vikram Pandit insisted:
[W]e are in a far stronger position going into 2009 than we were going into 2008. And we are even better positioned for 2010.
Our underlying business remains strong and revenues have been stable.
We have shrunk our balance sheet ....
We have significantly reduced our risky assets while putting the company in a very strong capital position.
Today's news:
U.S. Agrees to Rescue Struggling Citigroup
Plan Injects $20 Billion in Fresh Capital, Guarantees $306 Billion in Toxic Assets
A "very strong capital position" one week; in need of a $20 billion capital rescue the next. "Significantly reduced" risky assets one week; in need of a $306 billion government guarantee of risky assets the next week.
Sounds familiar ...
July 17, 2008:
Right now we believe that we are in a very comfortable spot in terms of our capital.
- John Thain, CEO, Merrill Lynch
July 29, 2008:
New York Times
Only 10 days after stunning Wall Street with a huge quarterly loss, Merrill Lynch unexpectedly disclosed another multibillion-dollar write-down on Monday ....
March 10, 2008:
Bear Stearns’s balance sheet, liquidity and capital remain strong.
- Alan Schwartz, CEO, Bear Stearns
March 17, 2008:
Associated Press
Paulson defends Bear Stearns bailout
The U.S. treasury secretary, Henry Paulson, defended on Sunday the Federal Reserve’s decision to help rescue Bear Stearns ....
Congress is correctly demanding accountability of the Big Three CEOs in Detroit before approving a rescue package. Can the same be said of George Bush's Treasury Department and Vikram "Very Strong Capital" Pandit at Citigroup?
Where's the accountability for Wall Street?
***
Thain, New York Times, Schwartz and AP quotes collected in Yeah, Right: "This Economy Is Strong" and Other Tall Tales, page 33
Yeah, Right is a wonderful little barb of a book .... Armed with such gems as "The Bush economic plan worked, and it worked brilliantly," (Rush Limbaugh, July 17, 2007), this book packs a lot of wallop....Pick up Yeah, Right and use it. You just know you'll have the one annoying cousin at the Thanksgiving table who will start in on how the problem with the economy is that it's over-regulated and we pay too much in taxes. Oleske's provided the ammo to fight back ... dirty, quick and easy. - SusanG, Daily Kos