Who is killing CITI? Can it survive?

On Friday, Citi (C) was traded below $4.  Who would have imagined this to happen.  In Mid 2007, C was traded above $50.  Many things happened since then.

Another coordinated attack by short sellers like Bear Stearns, and Lehman?  Enough hedge funds collectively short C, then rating agencies downgrade C's credit ratings....the end of the story.  No equity = no lending capacity = no profit.

C's balance sheet is not that much worse than JPM's.  They say it is the management that investors don't trust...which is the justification for the recent bear raid.  

Citi cut more than 50,000 jobs, but they don't intend to sell their businesses in this market.

Citi is also lobbying for 1) reinstatement the uptick rule and 2) temporary short ban.  I am sure they are talking to Uncle Ben and Paulie this weekend, because it is too big to fail.  

As we all know the TARP money is not working.  Because all these banks' stock prices are going down which means that their ability to lend have evaporated, too.  There are several things that the Government can do to help Citi without spending our tax money.  

- reinstate the uptick rule.

- temporary lift of mark to market accounting.

- stricter law and monitoring of naked short selling.

- Swift regulation of Credit Default Swap market.

and above all....

- Announce the replacement of Christopher Cox ASAP.

Because of SEC's short seller friendly policies, the TARP money has been wasted.