Citi could be looking for a quick way to buying back their shares to minimize federal interference in their company operations and passing that cost to the customer. Which is an act of Thievery since we, the taxpayers are virtual shareholders of this company and helping them pay this down in this fashion will circumvent any revenue gains from this controversial decision.

OR

This will increase the government gains until the shares are bought back, BUT the profits or gains probably won’t make it’s way back into our pockets, quite the contrary we have been indirectly charged twice for the transaction.

regards

Sam

Do a search for “fractional reserve banking” and “full reserve banking” and you’ll see it isn’t just Citibank that acts in a morally bankrupt fashion but ALL commercial and consumer banks.

When the dollar isn’t fixed to a real standard, the banks have no idea where to put money as a safe investment and still beat the Federal Reserve-generated cost of living hikes each year. Even worse, the same organization, the Federal Reserve, allows these commercials banks to actually PRINT THEIR OWN MONEY in-house through fractional reserve lending.

It’s all criminal, right down to the dollar bill. When society realizes that fiat currency never wins, and always kills the lower and middle classes, they’ll riot enough to push the REAL criminals out: the Federal Reserve, and the Democrats and Republicans who love them.

1. HSBC + a local bank you already know you can trust.

2. Many credit unions are state-chartered and do not fly under the wing of federal insurance [or federal oversight] programs like FDIC. Buyer beware.

3. Housing bubble? Of course. My last decade before retirement was spent inside the home-building industry. Even today’s prices are inflated a minimum of 40% above reality. Still a long way to fall.

4. Keep rolling out your opinions, Om. We read them and evaluate them on the basis of the person we already know you to be – and our own opinions and analysis, of course. Agreement or disagreement is optional.

Thanks for the off-topic diatribe, with which I could not agree more.

They have also started punishing long-time customers in another devious way: They charge you $10 a day (!!!) for already existing overdraft protection, even if it only means covering a $5 outstanding balance. That also means they force customers to keep excessive cash in their checking acct instead of moving it into an interest bearing account.

If you are looking for a decent bank check out http://www.ingdirect.com or a local credit union, both have done me well.

You read my comment correctly, I do agree with you. But, I just feel like this isn’t the right forum for venting. To me, when you want to write something like this, it should come in a place where people are otherwise surrounded with information about the subject (I think that’s part of the reason why blogs have flourished in recent years).

You (and your sites) have been an extremely respectable source of news for a long time. You will continue to be so. I appreciate your desire to use GigaOM as your personal soapbox (it has your name after all). I just feel like it hurts the national debate when someone with a sizable readership goes on a tangent about a topic when they are not an expert (think Bill O’Reilly).

Thanks for addressing my comment. Keep up the great tech reporting and analysis. I honestly think you add a tremendous amount of value to the national debate on that topic. (I won’t address any comments about Citi here again).

Best, Brian