OMGz THEY're NATIONALIZING 'R BANKz!

Oh how you've just got to love the media sensationalizing what amounts to mere hearsay at this point - Nationaliztion of the nations largest financial institution Citigroup.

The current rumored 'take over' if you will would be a 40% stake in the company, which, if anyone's counting, is still less than half. To call this a step toward nationalization, to me, seems to be a gross exaggeration on the behalf of both the media and the leeches on Wall St. who have preeminently deemed this all superfluous and thus the talons of Communism sinking itself into the "free world's" ideological dream of a free capitalistic market. And while on the surface that just may seem to be, I think one must ask themselves a few important questions before making such a bold statement: (Oh, see what I did there?)

Firstly - The number which has been thrown around in these rumors has been 40%, I'm pretty sure that is still considered a minority share of the company. How is taking a big, but still less-than-half stake in a very very important institution some how nationalization? Yes, with that stake they will dictate many things within the company and there will obviously be a link between Citi and the government which gives the government control, but it is still not necessarily total control.

Secondly - Arguably this could go first, but ask yourself: What happens if Citi (who has failed to sell itself on an open market) goes the way of Lehman Brothers, et. al. ? We're not talking about a small institution here, we're talking about what amounts to the largest financial institution in the United States. I'm not going to answer this for you, but look at it this way...when the biggest financial institution doesn't have money and much of America runs on an IOU basis (cars, businesses/corporations, houses, college) where exactly are we going to get money from to advance in life and survive?

Thirdly - Why are we in this mess to begin with? More specifically, why is Citigroup, the largest institution in America for a reason, suffering from hundreds of billions of dollars in losses? There are a lot of answers to that question which are all correct in their own respects, but at the end of the day the greedy, predatory tactics of the ENTIRE financial industry has ultimately led to its own demise. This is the literal capital failure of capitalism. This is the end result - looming failure and no real solution.

When considering the above, it's hard to imagine what else to do. We simply cannot continuously inject tax payer dollars into these institutions due to their own complete and total failures. We are in this situation because of them and it's not just the institutions who are suffering it's everyone. While I have my opinions about foresight in the matter and the fact that what is happening right now seems like the only inevitable conclusion (in terms of the stimulus not so-called nationalization), we simply cannot go on throwing out money at the exact people that fucked it all up to begin with.

It's a very desperate situation and the United States simply cannot let Citigroup fall because the odds are, the entire market will collapse in on itself and we will have less than nothing if it does. The repercussions are ones that we cannot risk on the mere chance that they will right the ship themselves. That is not to say that somehow a partial government takeover is going to either, but this is not the face of tyranny unveiling itself, it's the embodiment of the dire straits we're facing realized in a single set of cirumstances.

Still, I'm going to reserve my own full judgment until more concrete details surface, rather than the clamouring in the media and on Wall Street. I hardly think something this momentous is going to take shape overnight, so there will be much to debate and to ponder once the full-scope of the situation comes to light.

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On another note:

I'm still not sold on the Obama administration nor Obama himself as President. Although it has only been a month since he took office, I feel like he's still doing a better job talking than he is at accomplishing very much. I'm also still a little perplexed at the reckless, and seemingly rushed closing of the detention centers which to me seemed more like a "See, I'm here to get shit done" statement than it was a very good, or well-executed idea. I do and continue to think that, in that area, there needed to be drastic changes...but to have rushed it like this seems, frighteningly premature.

Granted Mr. Obama started his term waist deep in a sea of shit, but I'm just still not sold on his policies nor approaches thus far. I feel like his speeches have romanticized his presidency but he has failed to deliver as enthusiastically and precisely as he has executed his words. Plus, the bumbling over some of the cabinet openings isn't exactly instilling much more confidence in me either.

I certainly hope that, if Mr. Obama et.al. choose to make this leap of faith into taking a stake of Citigroup, that it's a highly calculated one which is based on necessity and not simply desperation alone. After 8 years (arguably less than 7) of George W. Bush, we cannot afford to fail.