ONE PRACTICAL PROBLEM FACING NATIONALIZATION

The FDIC simply doesn't have enough people to take over Citigroup or Bank of America. NPR has a segment on the takeover of a small bank and it required 80 FDIC employees:

The Bank of Clark County had 100 employees and assets of $446 million — it was a really small bank. But the federal takeover kept 80 FDIC agents, about 50 Bank of Clark County staff, and 100 Umpqua employees, working round the clock for three days.

Most of the largest banks in trouble right now — Citibank, Bank of America — are about 6,000 times the size of the Bank of Clark County and much, much more complicated.

At the end of 2007, the FDIC had 4,523 employees.