Why U.S. Government Wants Citigroup (NYSE:C) Over $5 A Share

At the recent Citigroup (NYSE:C) shareholder meeting, a number of shareholders pushed for a reverse stock split in order to increase the price of the company, as I wrote about earlier.

This is also why there has been so much positive spin being reported on the company and the enormous amount of shares trading hands every day.

The reason behind wanting the share price to go beyond $5 is in relationship to institutional investors, who in many cases are prohibited from investing in any stock under $5 a share. For example, pension funds and mutual funds are some of those I’m referring to here.

Now you know why the U.S. government voted all its shares at the annual meeting to encourage there to be a reverse stock split; they would then sell a large stake in the company, which they would then publicize as making even more money on behalf of the “taxpayers.”

It’s incredible to me to see the U.S. government take taxpayer money, use it absolutely to not allow this giant bank to fail, then turn around after bailing it out and putting a huge portion of what Citigroup owes them in common shares of the company, then manipulating their position in the company in an effort to inflate the share price of Citigroup in order to make a huge profit.

If this was being done by a private company I wonder if there would be any screaming and hollering over what was being done? I wonder if there would be any investigations?

This is the new, crazy world of government interference in the markets (at this level) as they can literally manipulate it any way they choose once they gain access to it.

Now you know why they have all those former bankers on their staffs; you can be sure they’re guiding them along the way.

It also makes you question the way the focus has come on Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) by the government, even as they have numerous former Goldman Sachs executives as part of their decision-making process.

Is it a scripted play being offered to the public with both parties writing the screenplay?

As far as the push behind the $5 a share push, it seems the government is extremely committed to making it happen one way or the other before making significant sales of their shares in Citigroup. It’s just too good of a public relations coup to pass up, and because Citigroup has struggled to obtain the $5 a share mark, it seems the government is working hard to get a reverse stock split as the other option to get it going quickly in order to boast of their great management of the taxpayer funds.

If institutional investors start putting funds into the stock once it achieves the $5 mark, there could be a nice upwards move over the year which would allow the government to boast over and over again how wisely they’re divesting of the shares they own in Citigroup. It seems they’re willing to go to any length to accomplish that task, at least without the general public understanding what’s really happening.