‘Tis the season to gripe about college football. But this year, the grousing isn’t about the lack of a playoff system. After all, the national championship is between the (almost) undisputed No. 1 and No. 2 teams in the country. But it’s sponsored by Citigroup. Citigroup, “which needed about $50 billion of our money to stay in business and has repaid less than half of it,” an incensed Loren Steffy writes in the Houston Chronicle. It’s not just the questionable use of funds that bothers Steffy; it’s the fact that Citigroup, and the other banks that sponsor college bowl games (Capital One, GMAC), are associating their services with higher education, a community they have proven eager to fleece. Steffy rails against on-campus pitches for high-interest credit cards and high-fee bank accounts, not to mention the practice of selling “private student loans” to unsuspecting students. Private loans, much like subprime mortgages, appear to be a great deal, until the unfixed interest rates skyrocket. And who is one of the biggest underwriter of private student loans? Citigroup. “The winner of the BCS championship game won’t be determined until Thursday night,” Steffy writes, “But the loser’s already decided. It’s us.”
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is that my lighter?
nope, its Douglas Fur’s.