Traco power

If Pandit wouldn’t acknowledge that Citi is TBTF, senior U.S. Treasury official Herb Allison, who also addressed the graphic design panel, wouldn’t even admit that Citi was essentially broke when taxpayers bailed it out. Asked repeatedly about whether Citi is systemically risky, he conceded only that Citi “and other banks were on the brink of failure” in late 2008. Thanks for clearing that up.

“I’m disappointed at how you’re narrowing your datasheet design testimony,” Silvers snapped, adding the he didn’t understand “why it is that the U.S. government can’t admit what everyone in the world knows, which is that Citigroup… was a failing institution.”

That’s easy. Because if it did, the government would have to do something serious to ensure that it never again has to rescue a dangerously big dc fans bank. The only way to do that is to break up financial giants like Citi. And the Obama administration, along with the  financial industry, is on the record as opposing that idea.