Citigroup should have been allowed to fail. Unlike Wachovia which still had a market value when the feds stepped in, Citi was worthless thus the feds gave them a bailout package. By randomly allowing some financial institutions to survive, AIG, Fannie/Freddie, Citi while allowing other to fail Wachovia, Merrill Lynch, WAMU the government is changing the market equilibrium and punishing certain shareholders, employees and geographic regions while propping up others.

The final price tag of the bailout is TBD but will likely be in the $1.5 to $2.0 trillion range. They could have easily given every US household $10,000 and still had money left over which makes about as much sense as selectively bailing out a few institutions called "to big to fail". Citi and its bumbling incompetent management should have been forced into a fire sale perhaps to a foreign company like HSBC while providing federal protection like that offered when Citi was going to buy Wachovia.

Yes. Anytime the government intervenes they do more harm than good.