Inpeace,

Keep in mind market goes up and down.  During the boom you can pay for 1 share of stock around $25, and during recession for $1.  That is why mark to market rule came into play, and government is also taking big risk by printing money hoping the value would stay the same when helping financial institution.  So, yes government could fail, and yes Citi and BAC could fail.  But everyone including US government is betting on that the market will rise, and make profit in the future.  So far in history, according to Federal Reserve government has not lost money while investing in financial institutions.    

I bet on Citi because I knew they would be profitable.  They are getting money from the government for almost zero percent interest and they are charging us 5-25% on the loans and credit cards to the consumers.  If you study Pandit's history, he was very successful investors, and also he holds PhD degree in finance, and I knew they would make money from trading business.  I also took the SEC mark to market rule relaxation in account as well as an information leak from city in March that they were profitable.  Having all that information in your hand and studying the chart for technical analysis, I would be fool not to invest and profit. 

I hope this answer your question.