The reason GS has been in so much trouble is because they were trying to get people to buy things they knew would fail, so their profits would be higher when they short sold it
I bought short-term puts on citigroup; they have a myriad of factors against them. 1. Treasury ownership; the treasury will continue to sell shares throughout the year thus deflating the price. 2. Pending lawsuits by indviduals, states and national governments; many are preparing lawsuits against the big banks due to their alleged misconduct; it's plausible and this past year the commonwealth of Massachusetts filled it's budget gap suing goldman sachs and foreign governments are preparing suits. 3. Although I may be wrong about this but the financial reform bill diminishes their profits and limits potential for growth, right? 4. Market capitalization until citigroup does a reverse splits or stock repurchases the ability for the stock to grow is greatly reduced. If the price doubled to 8 dollars per shape, citigroup would become the third largest company by marketcap in America. This is unlikely and so the logical outcome is reverse split which was approved by proxy voters. http://www.thestreet.com/story/10763836/1/citigroup-contemplating-reverse-split.html?CM_VEN=AD|TWR