The editors of The Atlantic ponder:
What hidden issues like this lurk in a Citigroup bankruptcy? Compared to Citigroup, Lehman was a simple entity; it borrowed some money, it issued some securities, it bought and sold some other securities. Citigroup is a bank, a trading operation, an insurer . . . and it has commercial banking operations in something like 119 countries, all of whom have their own opinion about what should happen to the company, and regulatory authority over at least a piece of it. It’s tempting to think that the Lehman bankruptcy has already exposed the potential problems from any collapse.
The actual answer: its assets will be picked up for a song by other enterprises which weren’t as boneheaded as Citi and after a few years, most people will forget there ever was a Citi for us to worry about. Its called life – and some times it doesn’t work out the way we like.
Attempts to keep failed corporations like Citi alive via infusions of taxpayer dollars are foolish and counter-productive. They just put off the day of reckoning and ensure that when it does come, it will be worse than otherwise.
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