Still more Citi

Something that I hoped I would never see happen has occurred: the Government has shown that it is smarter and more astute than Citi! Indeed, the seniors at Citi are so tone-deaf that Citi is better off under the management of the US Government.

In olden days, while Citi senior management was not immune to making the occasion dreadful decision, they were right a lot more often than they were wrong. More important, on matters where public opinion was going to be overridingly important, the seniors tended to listen to their more astute juniors. I think of folks like Paul Kolterjahn and Charlie Long whose opinions/instincts were regularly checked by the most senior folks.

Well, Paul is deceased, and Charlie is long gone. Either no one has risen in the organization and brought their common sense with them to take the place of these two gentlemen, or the most senior types have concluded that if they get paid this much money they MUST be infallible.

Both Charlie and Paul would have immediately internalized the episode of the Big Three automakers flying their corporate jets to DC to ask for a handout. Their counsel would have been for Citi to take the penalties, whether the MEP was approved or not, and regardless of the extent of the financial penalties involved, instead of accepting the luxury corporate jet. They would, in a long-vanished Citi, have saved the institution the humiliation of being overtly managed from Washington, DC.

Further down the ranks at Citi in the old days was the expression "FUMU". This acronym (we always loved our acronyms in the old Citi), of course stood for "Fuck Up, Move Up". While it was usually uttered when grousing about someone who had gotten a seemingly-undeserved promotion despite making errors in his/her old job, there was a good side to FUMU. It meant that, if you were doing an outstanding job, making an occasional goof was part of the learning (i.e. management development) process. And it meant that if you were really good, you could get promoted regardless. BUT you had to be really, really good! And, importantly, you had to have a good ear for cognitive dissonance.

What we have running Citi at present, regrettably, certainly and demonstrably are not good, and recent events bring into question their mere competence. And, furthermore, they are totally and irredeemably tone-deaf.

Thank God for the Government! Possibly, under Governmental management, a new management will develop within Citi, and it can return to some semblance of the Citi of the old days.