Inspector General: Government's Decision To Bailout Citigroup In '08 Based Less On "Facts" Than "Feeling Like They Were Going To Soil Themselves"

“While there was consensus that Citigroup was too systemically significant to be allowed to fail, that consensus appeared to be based as much on gut instinct and fear of the unknown as on objective criteria,” according to a report today from Neil Barofsky, special inspector general for the Troubled Asset Relief Program. “The conclusion of the various government actors that Citigroup had to be saved was strikingly ad hoc.” [Bloomberg]