"It's a lot easier to get into these situations than it is to get out of them," says Citigroup CEO Vikram Pandit about his ailing bank's real-estate portfolio.(The Week)(Brief article)

"It's a lot easier to get into these situations than it is to get out of them," says Citigroup CEO Vikram Pandit about his ailing bank's real-estate portfolio. Taxpayers are no doubt feeling the same way about the ongoing federal operation to prop up the banking system with their money, a project now $45 billion deeper into the hole with aid to Citigroup. Citigroup is politically connected: Robert Rubin, Treasury secretary under Clinton and a mentor both to current Treasury boss Henry Paulson and to Obama Treasury nominee Timothy Geithner, serves on the board. And while ...