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Citigroup Gets What It Deserves
Citigroup today announced that its third-quarter earnings dropped 60 percent, in large part because of more than a billion dollars worth of bad subprime loans in its portfolio. But no one, especially not Citigroup, should be surprised that its loan portfolio is a minefield of rotten debt.
For years, Citigroup has preyed on the mentally retarded, the elderly, and the illiterate, particularly in the South, to push predatory subprime loans on people most ill-equipped to pay for them. Reporter Mike Hudson, now at the Wall Street Journal, has been chronicling this story for a decade, and in 2003, Southern Exposure magazine won a George Polk award for his investigative package on Citigroup and its history of assembling some of the country's sleaziest subprime lending companies under one roof. Lots of people who got subprime loans from Citigroup and its subsidiaries ended up losing their homes long before the current foreclosure crisis.
Just five years ago, Citigroup agreed to pay $240 million to settle a lawsuit filed by the Federal Trade Commission over its predatory lending practices, and it has settled a host of private lawsuits over similar charges. The lawsuits never seemed to put even a hitch in Citigroup's step, but it looks like all those bad loans are finally coming home to roost. Citigroup deserves to collapse under the weight of its scummy business practices, but it's unfortunate that the reckoning threatens to bring down the rest of the economy with it.
"the mentally retarded, the elderly, and the illiterate, particularly in the SOUTH"
Shame on you Mencimer. You imply that we in the former Confederacy are retards and illiterate. It is you Yankees that are the cause of the problems.
Citigroup, huh?
Earnings down, 'eh?
Some big name politicians are going to be VEeeery UNhappy about that.
Citigroup happens to be Rahm Emanuel's 4th largest sugardaddy.
Citigroup also logs #4 on Chuch Schumer's list of owners.
#8 on Mitt Romney's buddy list
#7 for both Rudy & Barack
Citigroup is John McCain's #2 contributor.
They were #2 on Al Gore's list in 2000 as well.
It seems that Dubya got quite a few contributions from Citigroup employees, though they don't hit his top 5.
But you know what?
Citigroup has been slipping Hillary Clinton more money than Any Other single contributor she has!
You can check that stuff out here:
http://www.opensecrets.org/
Before we go off on that 'evil corporate giant' Citigroup..., talk about how they "...preyed on the mentally retarded, the elderly, and the illiterate, particularly in the South, to push predatory subprime loans on people most ill-equipped to pay for them." and
"its history of assembling some of the country's sleaziest subprime lending companies under one roof."
...it might just be worthwhile finding out who their friends, facilitators and protectors are and have been, and 'give credit' EVERYWHERE that 'credit' is due!
Be Smart AND Fearless in your Journalism!
I think the biggest revelation of 06-07 has been just how MUCH of this crap has been going on out there...
I wouldn't invest right now in anything, on a BET...
Stop picking on the South. You Yankees have your share of retards too.
Clearly a balanced post. Way to lay out both sides of the issue.
According to you poor people and the elderly cannot take care of themselves. Also, what about the individuals that received "predatory loans" from Citigroup because their credit score was low but got their lives back together in part through home ownership. Oh, and another thing to consider is that the bank does not win in a foreclosure, they can only get the money they loaned back by law. The banks want people to pay their loans. Sometimes people shirk their responsibilities and do not pay however, and then you foreclose. It is called a mortgage, and it is not evil.
This is racist. It implies that Black people are retards. You are right Mary Jo.
I don't see any "chickens coming home to roost" for Citigroup. At least not in any serious way. Basically, they get to "write off" the bad loans, which means they'll use them as a tax deduction, leaving the rest of us poor schmucks to make up the difference. No prosecutions for those who committed fraud, no serious changes to the way they do business, nothing at all that I can see. Just, at best, a minor slap on the wrist, and then it's back to business as usual.
With so many big name DemoPublican and RepubliCrat Power-Wranglers in Citigroup's pocket, why would you expect anything unpleasant to happen to them?
Geeze, stop with the southern pride. It is neither meant to be offensive, or false. The GDP for the south is a full half of that on the coasts, you are also large consumers, just like "us Yanks" You can whine and moan all you want, but the fact is that the Mentally retarded and elderly in the south are far less likely to even be able to pay off modest loans on credit cards. And I'm sorry, but quite a lot of the south is illiterate, you have more illegal immigrants, and believe it or not, companies like city group do issue them credit cards.
And as for you tar gator. In a corporate meeting with a leading expert in bankruptcy, citigroup told her that if they were to quit lending to people who clearly couldn't pay them back, "we would lose the heart of our profit, that is where we make our money.
Banks don't care if we can't pay them back, because they sell the debt for instant profit to investors and other countries, like china and Saudi Arabia. Maybe you should all crack a book. I suggest Credit Card Nation, by Robert Manning, and Maxed Out by James D Scurlock. And if you can't bring yourself to read them, then watch the documentaries they coupled with them.