Geithner Announces Plans To Sell Remaining Citigroup Shares At $12 Billion Profit

Dean Baker:  Don't believe the Treasury hype...

And for the record, Citigroup received $45 billion in TARP funds, a $306 billion taxpayer guarantee of assets, billions in FDIC-backed debt, ultra-cheap access to the credit markets by virtue of being government owned, hundreds of billions from TALF, TAF and other Fed programs at near-zero rates, plus billions from the Fed's ZIRP policies, and QE purchases.  Is there anything I've missed?

This theme of lying about bailout paybacks is becoming a habit for Geithner and his corporate Treasury pets:

• LIKE A CROCK - GM Payback Lies

• GM's annoying new TV commercial ruined my Thanksgiving

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Source - AP

WASHINGTON — The government said late Monday it had reached a deal to sell its remaining holdings of Citigroup common stock and will end up turning a profit of $12 billion on its bailout of the giant bank.

The Treasury Department said that a final offering of about 2.4 billion shares of Citigroup Inc. common stock had been priced at $4.35 per share. With the proceeds of the sale, the government will have realized $57 billion on its bailout package for the big bank.

Citigroup received $45 billion in taxpayer support late in 2008 in one of the largest bank rescues as the government struggled to contain the worst financial crisis to hit the country since the 1930s.

Of the $45 billion in taxpayer support provided to Citigroup, $25 billion was converted to a government ownership stake that the Treasury has been selling off since last spring. The bank repaid the other $20 billion in December 2009.

Treasury said that with the pricing of the last 2.4 billion shares of common stock on Monday, it would receive $31.8 billion from the sale of common stock plus another $2.9 billion in interest and dividends.

The $57 billion total also includes $20 billion from Citigroup's December 2009 repayment of TARP money and another $2.2 billion from the sale of trust preferred securities held by the government.

"By selling all the remaining Citigroup shares today, we had an opportunity to lock in substantial profits for the taxpayer and avoid future risk," said Tim Massad, the Treasury official who heads up the bailout program.

"With this transaction, we have advanced our goals of recovering TARP funds, protecting the taxpayer and getting the government out of the business of owning stakes in private companies," Massad said in a statement.

Treasury had disposed of about 5.3 billion shares at an average price of $4.05 before Monday's pricing of the remaining shares. With the pricing of $4.35 for the shares offered on Monday, Treasury's average price for its entire 7.7 billion shares of common stock will turn out to be $4.14.

Monday's deal, for which Morgan Stanley acted as bookrunning manager, is expected to close on Friday, Treasury said. Citigroup is paying the underwriting fees.

Citigroup common stock closed at $4.45 in trading Monday and has ranged from a low of $3.11 to a high of $5.07 over the past 52 weeks.

Continue reading...

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More detail is here:

At least we know Jim Rogers loves Tim Geithner, right..?...

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Update on Dec 7, 2010 at 10:05 PM by DailyBail

Jim Rogers and GM links added.

Comments

[DailyBail]

From American Revolutionary To American Apathy

http://www.activistpost.com/2010/12/from-american-revolutionary-to-american.html

[DailyBail]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/wikileaks/8185247/WikiLeaks-Julian-Assange-to-hand-himself-in-to-police-after-arrest-warrant-issued.html

WikiLeaks: Julian Assange to hand himself in to police after arrest warrant issued
Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks, will hand himself in to police - possibly as early as Tuesday - after a fresh European Arrest Warrant was issued by the Swedish authorities.

[DailyBail]

How Effective Would a Payroll Tax Holiday Be In Spurring Employment and Stimulating the Economy

http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2010/12/how-much-stimulative-effect-does.html

[S. Gompers]

So what is my rate of return on my share of this forced investment?

[DailyBail]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/12/06/bank-of-america-bailout_n_792438.html

Bank of America Promises to Meet Bailout Requirement, But Challenges Remain

[S. Gompers]

"How Effective Would a Payroll Tax Holiday Be In Spurring Employment and Stimulating the Economy"

They won't go for that, it would help the little guy.

[DailyBail]

Hey, Since When Is The Dirty Fed In The Loan Sharking Business?

http://www.jrdeputyaccountant.com/2010/12/hey-since-when-is-dirty-fed-in-loan.html

[S. Gompers]

"Hey, Since When Is The Dirty Fed In The Loan Sharking Business?"

Technically since it makes loans to the government, that you and I will be forced to repay, yet we have no say in the matter, it could be loan sharking with a bit of extortion, and some good old fashioned strong arm thuggery to boot.

[Cheyenne]

First $100 bills signed by Geithner exhibit creasing and blank spots, cause government printers to shut down.

http://www.cnbc.com/id/40521684

You can't make this shit up.

[mark mchugh]

"Is there anything I've missed?"


How many bad mortgages did Citi dump to the Fed, Fannie & Freddie?

[john]

This site has some good information going back quite a ways regarding mortgage fraud.

http://www.mortgagedaily.com/MortgageFraud2003.asp

[DailyBail]

"Is there anything I've missed?"

How many bad mortgages did Citi dump to the Fed, Fannie & Freddie?

@mark...good point...i tried to cover that under the heading of QE sales to the Fed...

[john]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=szBZJth1SW0

There is something about the phrase "behind the woodshed" that seems to keep popping up... and speaking of haircuts, what happened to his eyebrows?

[DailyBail]

nice link john...it's going in a story for later this week...thanks...