Bracing For Outrage Over Citi Executive Offices (C)

If you thought that lavish spending was over on Wall Street, there is going to be a new point of outrage this morning for all the whiners.  Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C) is spending roughly $10 million for executive offices in New York.  Despite the note that this may actually be a trade-down from existing space, Vikram Pandit’s fate may have just taken a turn for the worse.

Bloomberg has a story noting that Citi is planning to pay $10 million for its Park Avenue headquarters.  The part that this is supposed to be a “money saver” and much being for safety issues will probably get lost in the shuffle.  This is even a gearing down from larger offices if the data is accurate, but that won’t matter either.

What you will probably hear about are a Sub-Zero refrigeration system, blast-proof glass, the use of lighting consultants, and more.  Executives are not expected to have fold up chairs and tables.  But in today’s world where janitors and construction workers get to have a say in public policy this is just going to go down as another corporate blunder.

Canceling a jet order came too late to deflect criticism at Citi.  John Thain already had enough criticism over bonus allocations, but the lavish office expense only added fuel to the fire before a Wall Street witch burning took place.

Frankly, our take is that the outrage and input from uninvolved parties has gone with the pendulum in a swing way too far to the left.  But that doesn’t matter.  This is the new French Revolution against wealth and extravagance.  And the masses want heads whether the person under the guillotine is guilty of anything or not.

We predicted that Vikram Pandit may not survive the end game at Citi in 2009.  He is one of our 10 CEO’s that won’t make it in 2009.  This is going to just add some extra outrage from the public.  When the company tries to defend it, the calls against management will likely grow.  The politicians will get some new witch-hunt material today.

JON C. OGG