[lbo-talk] letter to the editor

[Carl Remick]

On 9/27/07, Doug Henwood <dhenwood at panix.com> wrote:
>
> On Sep 27, 2007, at 4:35 PM, Carl Remick wrote:
>
> > Walter Wriston?  Yeah, Wriston was real Mensa material and in a great
> > position to judge.  Wriston's most famous observation, speaking in
> > favor of sovereign-debt lending, was:  "Countries don't go out of
> > business."  As has been duly noted, countries can't go bankrupt, but those
> > who lend to them can.
>
> Yeah, poor Citibank. It used to be such a big bank.

Please.  As is true of most financial services institutions, Citi has
shuffled the deck so often since the distant days when Wriston ran the
place that I'm sure there's no trace of him left in the organizational
DNA.  The last link with the Wriston era was broken when Wriston
successor John S. Reed left after losing a power struggle with Sandy
Weill, who'd merged with Citi as CEO of Travelers Group.  The lasting
(so far) monument to Weill's victory is the red arc that now sits
triumphantly atop the "citi" in the Citibank logo -- the arc
represents the umbrella that was the symbol of Travelers in its days
as a humble insurer, before getting turbocharged by Weill.

Carl