Matthias Chang
Future Fastforward
March 12, 2009

So long as the filthy rich global gamblers are alive and able to manipulate the stock markets, the currency markets, the oil markets and the derivative markets, there can be no genuine recovery for the global economy.

The reason is simple.

	Vikram Pandit, Citigroup Chief Executive.

There has been such a massive and unprecedented malinvestment and misallocation of capital resources from productive endeavours to the global financial casino in the last twenty-five years, that when the global financial system collapsed in 2007, the real economy starved of essential capital and other resources went into a tailspin in 2008 throughout the Western developed economies. We are now witnessing the pernicious effects spreading throughout the global economy. No one and no economy has been spared!

The gamblers know that unless they can keep suckers coming back to the financial casino on the false promise that not only can they recover their losses, but more importantly, they have better than an even chance to make good money, these financial rapists would in turn be wiped out for good.

Vikram Pandit, Citigroup Chief Executive is a financial fraud par excellence and in testimonies to the US Congress has been lying about the bank’s balance sheet to the extent of short changing the US taxpayers of the value of securities that were pledged to secure the bailout to the tune of US$19 billion.

Financial analysts, including our idiots in Malaysia’s financial dailies and radio talk-show hosts were so taken up by the announcement of the alleged profits in the first two months of 2009 by this crook, that they have commented that the market has bottomed and this good news has sparked the rally and will continue to boost market sentiments.

If there is an example of a drowning man grasping at straws, this is it!

Anyone who believes in this trash is an idiot and I hope that every penny that they still have will be wiped out when this manipulated bear rally fizzles out in the next few days and that they will be forced into bankruptcy. They deserve no pity whatsoever.

Citigroup is bankrupt in law and in fact, notwithstanding the massive bailout by the US Treasury and the Fed. The fact that it has been “nationalised” does not change the financial status of the bank.

I will give a simple analogy.

[efoods]You have a business which has gone into receivership (“conservatorship” in US jargon) and the receivers and managers are now winding up the affairs of the company. Creditors are all lining up to take whatever remaining of the company’s assets in part settlement of the credit extended (hopefully 5 cents to the dollar).  Just because, the receivers and managers sold some assets and were able to obtain a better price than expected, would this good news change the status of the company?

So what is all this baloney that Citigroup is now on the road to recovery and this is an indication of a turn around in the US economy. The once mighty Citigroup had a market capitalisation of over $250 billion, just a year ago and it has now slumped to less that $8 billion, its share price hovering around $1.05.

Common sense tells me (and I am truly amazed why so many refuse to apply common sense) that if in fact Citigroup is on the road to recovery, this unscrupulous banker, Vikram Pandit would call for a global press conference to announce this fantastic news. Champagne would be flowing again at corporate headquarters.

Compare and contrast what Tiger Woods did when he had recovered from his knee operation. He gave a global press conference and went out to compete again in one of the most demanding match-play tournaments. And although he did not win the tournament, there was ample evidence that he had recovered, but it was also obvious that he needed more time and matches to get back to his normal groove!

But no, this Pandit sent out a so-called memo to his staff, which was conveniently leaked to the mass media (and knowing the gullibility of the stock market idiots) so as to lend credence that this confidential information must be true.

Surely the duty is first to inform officially the shareholders and taxpayers who have bailout the bank. But the preferred method of disclosure (and we are suppose to be in the age of transparency and good governance) is by way of a memo to the staff.

The actual memo has not been reproduced in full by the mass media. But surely the quoted words attributed to this financial crook is sufficient even to a first year student in economics and or finance that the so-called profit is bullshit and horseshit!

I quote:

“In fact, we are profitable through the first two months of 2009 and are having our best quarter-to-date performance since the third quarter of 2007. The bank had US$19 billion of revenue in January and February before disclosed write-downs.”

If you cannot detect the stupid nonsense from this quote, you have no business to be an economist, a banker, an accountant, an investor and or a regulator!

Firstly, two months revenue does not make a quarter.

Revenue is meaningless by itself if your debts are far, far greater than your revenue.

Revenue or income is only one side of the balance sheet.

The financial idiots who put out this piece of shit should be hounded down, hung from the street lamp-post and then tarred and feathered, the preferred punishment by the Irish Republican Army against traitors and other scumbags during the British colonial occupation of Ireland. 

To the citizens of America: if you don’t bring a class action against Vikram Pandit, you bloody deserve to be financially raped and plundered by these crooks!

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