LETTERS / BANKS

Regarding the story “Rubin resigns with Citigroup in disarray,” Jan. 10:

Citigroup lost $20 billion to the subprime mortgage crisis, completed an agreement for a $20-billion government investment, on top of an earlier $25-billion injection and a U.S. guarantee on $306 billion in troubled assets.

The government bailout is more than 17 times the Citigroup loss. In a free market, Citigroup would have gone into bankruptcy to work out the business. But in a government-captive market, it is supported with a bailout.

Who is going to bail out those of us who have lost half or more of our retirement investments?

I wonder whether Robert Rubin feels any remorse today in taking that $150 million in pay in a decade of work at Citigroup. At least he said he regrets that he is counted with “the many of us who have been involved in this industry for so long and did not recognize the serious possibility of the extreme circumstances that the financial system faces today.”

Arvel Witte

Rolling Hills