Citibailout

While you were busy hoarding beans and pointed sticks for the harsh winter, our lame duck administration was fixing you up a nice big shit sandwich to eat. Chew it and swallow: we're bailing out Citigroup, one of those "too big to fail" corporations that is failing, probably because of minority homeowners, some law Jimmy Carter passed in '77, UAW workers, or health care. Our entire economy is made up of "too big to fail" failures. The basics of the deal are that we're making a bunch of huge asset guarantees (around $250 billion+) plus giving $27 billion freedom dollars to a company worth only $20.5 billion and we're getting some stock and laughed at behind our back. Paul Krugman, Nobel Prize winning shrill economist, described the Citiplan thusly:

A bailout was necessary — but this bailout is an outrage: a lousy deal for the taxpayers, no accountability for management, and just to make things perfect, quite possibly inadequate, so that Citi will be back for more.

Chew and swallow. The business TV channel people loooooove it, so you know we are getting fucked really hard. At least John Boehner has a plan: cut the capital gains tax. If you see Hank Paulson in a bread line, thank him for all the failing banks we now own.