Dear Citi: I Love Free Markets

One of my favorite pastimes is watching greedy people get slapped in the face by the good old free market. This weekend’s greedy bastard is Charles Prince accompanied by Stan O’Neal and a plethora of hedge fund managers. If you don’t know today’s players they are the ex-CEOs of Citigroup and Merrill Lynch. Their greed started about five years with extremely low interest rates and a booming housing market. This was a perfect storm for banks. Loans were flying off the shelves and risk was almost nothing. If an owner couldn’t pay their loan they could just sell their home for a tidy profit, the bank was paid what they were owed and everyone was happy.

Fast forward to 2006 when investors had caught on to this housing craze. They could buy a condo in Miami, pre-construction for $15,000 down on a $300,000 unit. Sell it for $350,000 a year later and come out with a hefty $