[lbo-talk] Alas, poor Citibank!

Carl Remick carlremick at gmail.com
Wed Nov 7 09:51:13 PST 2007


On Nov 7, 2007 1:30 AM, Jordan Hayes <jmhayes at j-o-r-d-a-n.com> wrote:
> > there is reason to believe This Time Will Be Different.
>
> Yes, an $11B loss sounds huge ... until you see that Citi's gross
> profits over the last few years have all been north of $100B -- per
> year! Net profits in the $25B (per year!) range, with net income since
> 9/11 of nearly $140B.
>
> This Time It Will Be Different because This Time It's Chump Change.

There seems to be an awful lot of weeping, wailing and gnashing of teeth among Wall Street's high command over this "chump change." For one thing, this "CC" may merely be the iceberg's tip; no one *really knows* just how bad Citi's loses have been to date. Another problem is institutional contagion: How much of Citi's securitized junk has infested other institutions' balance sheets and not been identified yet?

But if you see this as a buying opportunity, please feel free to load up on Citi shares. As I recall, you were one of the strongest perma-bulls during the bubble-icious stock market of the '90s, so there's obviously no reason to doubt your prowess as a market-timer now ;-)

Carl



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