Citigroup CEO Vikram Pandit is the only guest on Charlie Rose tonight

http://www.charlierose.com/schedule/

Tuesday, November 25, 2008 :

A conversation with Vikram Pandit, CEO of Citigroup
with Vikram Pandit on Nov 25, 2008

Pandit gets asked if he is willing to work for government wages in exchange for the bailout.

How much money does this dude make? Probably more than I am willing to give him in tax dollars.

as a south indian descendent myself, i can't say i feel sorry for the guy, but some of the hatred he is getting or is going to get is just because of his skin color and funny name. thats just a tough fact for him, but oh well he's grossly overpaid anyway...

Plus, knowing Charlie Rose he will allow pandit plenty of space to make himself look sympathetic.

hope everyone reads the post on harpers today that reviewed the initial coverage of citicorp / travellers merger :

http://harpers.org/archive/2008/11/hbc-90003914


Thanks to regulations enacted more than 70 years ago and to the incredible political clout of small-town bankers, this country’s banking system has been a balkanized mess. The mergers are making banking more efficient, and that is a good thing. In fact, what would be really good to see is more and bigger mergers…

There are dangers. The mergers make more institutions “too big to fail.” Knowing that regulators won’t close them down in a crisis, bank managers may get reckless in their lending…Certainly, elephants mating can trample the underbrush. But in general, we have little to fear and a great deal to gain when they merge.