Citigroup may be on the verge of nationalization. But what exactly that means remains to be seen.
Citigroup Inc. is in discussions with regulators about a plan for the federal government to take a larger ownership stake in the bank, according to published reports.
What does it mean to nationalize a bank, anyway?
They walk among us. And they're a heck of a lot scarier than anything George A. Romero ever imagined.
President Obama's key economic advisers are all highly experienced, intelligent and thoughtful people - and Tim Geithner certainly figures prominently in that group. Still, the outline of the bank rescue plan he announced last week was viewed as underwhelming and quickly attracted a fair amount of criticism. The disappointment with what Geithner had to say stemmed not only from a lack of important specifics but also a sense that its scope did not go far enough to confront a crisis of major proportions: a banking system that has been paralyzed for six months now.
It is hard to ignore the reality that the banking crisis is experiencing another significant flare-up. Headlines are becoming scary again, with questions now raised about the future of institutions (see Bank of America) that had been somewhat shielded from the brunt of the initial storm that broke out last September.
Citigroup CEO Vikram Pandit downplayed the notion that his bank, or any other major financial institution for that matter, would be taken over the by the U.S. government.
Bolivian President Evo Morales nationalized the Chaco petroleum company Friday, taking over the BP subsidiary with the military on standby.
Nothing seems to scare bankers, or their shareholders for that matter, more than the word "nationalization."
In just a few days Citigroup went from trouble to trauma as its stock price plunged amid sweeping layoffs and deep losses on some of its more esoteric assets. When news reports swirled that the megabank was considering a sale of part or all of the company, it was clear that Citi was singing from the same hymnbook as firms like Lehman Brothers, Wachovia and AIG had before they fell. The public's only question: What would the end game look like?
Citigroup may be on the verge of nationalization. But what exactly that means remains to be seen.
Citigroup Inc. is in discussions with regulators about a plan for the federal government to take a larger ownership stake in the bank, according to published reports.
What does it mean to nationalize a bank, anyway?
They walk among us. And they're a heck of a lot scarier than anything George A. Romero ever imagined.
President Obama's key economic advisers are all highly experienced, intelligent and thoughtful people - and Tim Geithner certainly figures prominently in that group. Still, the outline of the bank rescue plan he announced last week was viewed as underwhelming and quickly attracted a fair amount of criticism. The disappointment with what Geithner had to say stemmed not only from a lack of important specifics but also a sense that its scope did not go far enough to confront a crisis of major proportions: a banking system that has been paralyzed for six months now.
It is hard to ignore the reality that the banking crisis is experiencing another significant flare-up. Headlines are becoming scary again, with questions now raised about the future of institutions (see Bank of America) that had been somewhat shielded from the brunt of the initial storm that broke out last September.
Citigroup CEO Vikram Pandit downplayed the notion that his bank, or any other major financial institution for that matter, would be taken over the by the U.S. government.
Bolivian President Evo Morales nationalized the Chaco petroleum company Friday, taking over the BP subsidiary with the military on standby.
Nothing seems to scare bankers, or their shareholders for that matter, more than the word "nationalization."
In just a few days Citigroup went from trouble to trauma as its stock price plunged amid sweeping layoffs and deep losses on some of its more esoteric assets. When news reports swirled that the megabank was considering a sale of part or all of the company, it was clear that Citi was singing from the same hymnbook as firms like Lehman Brothers, Wachovia and AIG had before they fell. The public's only question: What would the end game look like?
Greece's air, rail and urban transport came to a grinding halt Wednesday as the country's biggest labor union staged a 24-hour nationwide strike in protest of the government's plan to sell off the state's ailing carrier Olympic Airlines.
An insurrection against President Evo Morales in the eastern part of the country entered its second week Tuesday, with groups backed by local governors seizing control of government offices and airports and threatening to shut off a gas pipeline that feeds strategic fields in Argentina and Brazil.
President Hugo Chavez on Thursday ordered the nationalization of the Banco de Venezuela "to put it at the service of Venezuela" after denying approval for its sale.
President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela signed a decree Wednesday that orders the nationalization of the country's leading steel producer.
Sen. John McCain Tuesday blamed "rampant" speculation and "complacent" lenders for the current mortgage crisis.
The nationalization of the once lucrative bank threatens the British Prime Minister's already tottering fortunes
The U.S. government said Friday it had agreed not to prosecute Omega Advisors Inc., a $6 billion hedge fund, over its role in an alleged scheme to bribe Azeri officials and gain control of the Azerbaijan state oil company.
Exxon Mobil and ConocoPhillips rejected a deal to stay in multibillion-dollar projects that Venezuela is nationalizing, increasing the chances that two of the world's top oil companies will leave the OPEC nation, sources close to the talks said.
Midway was once the world's busiest airport - until crosstown rival O'Hare overtook it in the early 1960s. Later this year it could reclaim its place in history, this time as the first major U.S. a...
In the hills above Mexico City, well-to-do supporters of presidential candidate Felipe Calderón hand the keys of gleaming late-model cars to parking attendants, then listen approvingly as he calls ...
For investors who like to gamble on initial public offerings, the state of Illinois may soon have a multi-billion dollar IPO for you.
He has been described as the next Che Guevara, the next Hugo Chavez, the next Fidel Castro. Evo Morales, a former coca growers' union leader and the new President of Bolivia, has pledged to nationalize his country's oil and gas industry, redistribute privately owned land, and decriminalize the coca leaf, a staple of Bolivian indigenous culture as well as the prime ingredient in the manufacturing of cocaine.
The gods were displeased.
Although their retirement may be years away, the nation's younger workers should be involved in the debate over Social Security, as well as aware of the risks posed by President Bush's plan to shore up the program, a Democratic congressman said Saturday.
IN HIS RECENT STATE OF THE UNION speech, President Bush waxed rhapsodic about the benefits of partially privatizing Social Security. "You can build a nest egg for your own future," he said. "Best o...
CNN.com asked its users what struck them most about President Bush's State of the Union address.
NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - As the polarized and contentious debate over Social Security gets underway, a new poll shows Americans are divided on the issue of partially privatizing the system.
NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Many who say Social Security is in crisis suggest overhauling the system by partially privatizing it, allowing workers to invest some of their Social Security taxes in personal investment accounts.
They've debated foreign policy and flu shots, terrorism and tax cuts. Now President Bush and Senator John Kerry are battling over the third rail of American politics: Social Security.
Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry seized on a report Sunday that President Bush would seek to quickly privatize Social Security in a second term.
Never count George Bush out. When he hits a roadblock, he will often overcome it with sheer persistence. No, we don't mean the capture of Saddam Hussein. We're talking about privatizing Social Secu...
Alan Greenspan may have touched the third rail of American politics this week by calling for cuts in Social Security benefits, but most economists weren't shocked.
The bank manager in the backseat of the SUV nervously toys with his prayer beads. Eminem is blaring on the stereo. The captain climbs in and lowers the volume. "Hey, media's choice, sir," the corpo...
American tanks move down a narrow street as explosions rattle the ramshackle town. Behind them, infantrymen outfitted in the latest high-tech gear creep forward, looking out for snipers, as well as...
It was a classic early '90s sound of summer in sweltering Buenos Aires, that tinny "thunk" when the air conditioning died, victim of a disastrous water system that tortured Latin America's richest ...
When a guy called the Pirate of Prague asks you to partner up with him again--you lost your shirt the first time--it's easy to be dismissive. Nonetheless, in the kind of audacious ploy only he coul...
You know," Viktor Kozeny announces, as he steers his twin-engine KingAir, Captain Viktor, into the blackening skies over the Caribbean, "when it gets dark and there's a haze like this, it is just l...
One of the costliest and most embarrassing sagas in the annals of French business is finally drawing to a close: Credit Lyonnais will be privatized this summer.
With all the proposals for privatizing Social Security flying around, you'd think Wall Street would be stupefied with greed and euphoria. Billions of dollars flowing out of the Treasury and into eq...
Just Moments after President Clinton presented his Social Security reform plan during his State of the Union address, Republican Congresswoman Jennifer Dunn of Washington went on camera to deliver ...
On a trip to Thailand in January 1997, Mark Madden, manager of the $156 million Pioneer Emerging Markets Fund, visited some two dozen companies asking: How much of the foreign currency debt on your...
The movement to privatize the Social Security system has gained force in recent years, thanks to Steve Forbes (whose platform in the 1996 Republican primary proposed letting people opt out of Socia...
The American press has a terrible record of reporting on the political and economic state of Russia. From the salad days of Josef Stalin in the 1930s (when news of the dictator's genocide was suppr...
Until last year, Inkombank did business out of a crumbling former science institute on the outskirts of Moscow. Now its offices, in a lavishly renovated pre-Revolutionary mansion a stone's throw fr...
Many economists favor privatizing Social Security and investing contributions in the financial markets. FORTUNE looked at the advantages of the idea (September 30). Here, Peter G. Peterson, chairma...
APRIL 1996 MAY MARK THE BEGINNING OF the end of the Social Security system as Americans have known it for 60 years. Sometime this spring, the Clinton Administration's 13-member Advisory Council on ...
The plaid-shirted former Tennessee governor bills himself as a crusader for "new ideas." Critics, however, have derided his ideas as a vague collection of schemes to privatize government services o...
Welcome to the nightmare." That was the message Mexico's incoming president, Ernesto Zedillo Ponce de Leon, received shortly before his inauguration last December. It came, via couriers, from Subco...
Picture this: The U.S. government finally sells the Postal Service. As with other functions moved from the government to the private sector, the privatized post office does what the government did ...
Take a government-owned company. Sell shares of stock in the business to the public. Watch management scramble to improve productivity under the scrutiny of investors. For governments around the wo...
Some privatization issues break the mold. Take a look at Sweden's Pharmacia, one of the 20 largest drug companies in the world, with sales last year of $3.5 billion. Not only are drug companies rar...
DRIVING TOWARD Shekou, a throbbing port in southern China, is like a journey into a region hit by an earthquake. The ground seems to move under you. Mounds of red mud are piled everywhere as land i...
FOREIGN TRAVEL may broaden your outlook, but foreign investing can fatten your wallet. Consider some of the returns from abroad so far this year: The Turkish stock market more than doubled; Finland...
Vaclav Klaus, 52, a free-market economist who is Prime Minister of the Czech Republic, is widely considered one of Eastern Europe's most effective political leaders. Says Prague entrepreneur Michae...
The new conservative government of France, hemmed in by a widening deficit, doesn't have much room to maneuver. But at the same time, Prime Minister Edouard Balladur wants to set forth boldly on a ...
Probably no country in modern times has bounced back so well from the depths of despair as has Argentina. Blessed by nature but cursed by destructive political leadership since the days of Juan and...
The news that the Massachusetts Turnpike might be privatized triggered unfond memories for the present writer, who has personally been keen to overturn the management of this toll road ever since L...
Business is always personal, but especially so in Eastern Europe, where daunting bureaucracy and changing ground rules can spook even veteran investors from abroad. In such a climate, knowing the r...
A NERVOUS SOBRIETY has set in across Eastern Europe. Two years after the Iron Curtain came crashing down, the region's experiments with capitalism might, to some eyes, seem an excellent advertiseme...
FOR POLAND this may be the most dangerous summer since 1939. While their Soviet neighbors fiddle, the gutsy Poles are switching from Communism to capitalism in one stroke. But their boldness has al...
IT IS HARD to think of any U.S. policy more perverse and self-defeating than the policy of trade sanctions and disinvestment aimed against South Africa. Well-intentioned but wrongheaded, these meas...
Now seen as a mellow moderate, Francois Mitterrand is no longer the bogyman of business. But his handsome reelection victory is hardly good news for French companies. It marks the end of the free-m...
BARELY 100 years after Karl Marx's body was laid in a north London grave, his truth no longer marches on. In all the major developed democracies, and many smaller ones as well, voters in the 1980s ...
BY PAST STANDARDS, 1987 was a quiet year for Britain's Margaret Hilda Thatcher. The woman called the Iron Lady fought no wars, faced down no major strikes, and enacted no groundbreaking legislation...
THE TAKEOVER BOOM that has so reshaped U.S. industry is now shaking up Europe. Conservative governments, with policies of deregulation, privatization, and relaxed antitrust enforcement, helped spar...
ALL THAT Margaret Hilda Thatcher wanted to do was change ''everything,'' as she once snapped to a questioner. She hasn't. But Thatcher has come closer to her goal than anyone would have imagined wh...
WHEN the U.S. government sold Conrail in March, records fell right and left. At a price of more than $1.6 billion, it was the largest initial public offering in U.S. history. With railroads, invest...
PRIVATIZATION, the hot new trend in business, is sweeping Europe. From Sweden to Spain, socialist and conservative governments alike are revving up their economies by selling stodgy state-owned bus...
France is in the throes of a capitalist revolution. Jacques Chirac, France's conservative Prime Minister, is selling shares of 65 state-owned industrial and financial enterprises to the public. Eas...
The capitalist road still looks like yellow brick to governments around the world. In December, Britain, which has already returned $10 billion of assets to the private sector since 1981, sold off ...
RONALD REAGAN hoped to go down in history as the President who shrank the government and unleashed the free-market system. He may be remembered instead as the head of an Administration that nationa...
Many Americans, including this reviewer, wish to reduce the role of government in their lives. But not many of us libertarians have thought much about a strategy for doing so. We have generally bel...
Harry F. Oppenheimer, 76, former chairman of South Africa's Anglo American Corp. and its sister, De Beers Consolidated Mines Ltd. -- a gold, diamond, and industrial empire founded by his father, Si...
IF YOU'RE THE HEAD of an American company doing business in South Africa these days, you've got to be feeling harassed. You are convinced your company is an effective force for peaceful change in a...
While Margaret Thatcher's government sells off nationalized companies to private investors, local governments in Britain are privatizing services from rat catching to school meals at a gathering pa...
OLD BUT STILL hotly controversial, the idea of letting private industry do more of government's work has caught fire in the 1980s. Pressed by tax revolts and spending limits, federal and local offi...
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