Citi Under Siege

If you wanted to make it so Citigroup (C - commentary - Trade Now) never gets out from under, you would do exactly what the government is doing. There's daily pressure on Vikram Pandit, a thoughtful man, to make a move, even if there isn't anything to do. Sheila Bair from the FDIC wants blood, but there's no sense in getting rid of Pandit, because Pandit didn't put this monster together and is furiously working to unwind it.

Worse, I don't know why a soul would work for this bank: no chance for advancement, no chance for a pay raise. If they decide to reward or retain, they can't match anyone. If you are good or have good clients either in retail or investment banking, you have to be thinking of leaving if you haven't already.

Plus the headline risk to this place is unfathomable. I think they made a great deal to pay for Citi Field. It's in the paper and on TV every day. I think it is a great form of advertising, something we expect and accept from Nascar, even though I think they give much less bang for the buck. Instead, it's extravagant.

I can only imagine what it must be like if you have to go against brokers or bankers who can entertain. There's certainly no chance to take a client away from someplace else.

The place must have terrible morale, beyond belief.

There are professionals who need to make enough money to live in New York City. You may not like it if you live somewhere else, but these people cannot afford to work at Citigroup. They just can't.

They don't have the horses. And the government takes some away every day.

It's an absurdity and a travesty, and no one will defend them.

Well, not exactly no one.

But I am certainly doing myself no favors championing this cause.

At the time of publication, Cramer had no positions in stocks mentioned.

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Know What You Own: In Friday's trading, the most active stocks include Bank of America (BAC - commentary - Trade Now), the S&P Depositary Receipts (SPY - commentary - Trade Now), Citigroup (C - commentary - Trade Now), the Financial Bear 3X (FAZ - commentary - Trade Now), the PowerShares QQQ (QQQQ - commentary - Trade Now), New M&I (MI - commentary - Trade Now) and the Financial Bull 3X (FAS - commentary - Trade Now).

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