Feds threatened to oust BofA execs over Merrill deal

Washington Times ^ | 10/21/2009 | Kara Rowland

[markomalley]

Government regulators threatened to remove top Bank of America executives if they backed out of a buyout of failing brokerage giant Merrill Lynch, and offered to provide taxpayer funds to compensate for Merrill's poor performance, according to company records obtained by The Washington Times.

The documents - e-mails between bank executives and their outside attorneys as well as board meeting "talking points" prepared for then-Bank of America Chief Executive Ken Lewis - offer new insight into the hardball tactics that produced one of the biggest deals negotiated during the late 2008 global financial crisis, one that is still reverberating on Wall Street and in Washington.

They also underscore the fear shared by then-Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr. and Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben S. Bernanke that allowing the deal to fall through would mean a sequel to the collapse of Lehman Brothers, whose failure months earlier sent the world economy into a tailspin.

[NonValueAdded]

Yep, the Frontline story on the deal was quite interesting. Breaking the Bank.

[Psycho_Bunny]

The government of this country is completely out of control.

[elkfersupper]

The feds are now concerned with manufacturing insolvent banks by declaring their assets worth less or worthless.

Among the many things they are able to do as federal law enforcement officers is to replace management.

[OldDeckHand]

'Government regulators threatened to remove top Bank of America executives if they backed out of a buyout of failing brokerage giant Merrill Lynch"

2009: The Year the Free Market system died.

[ladyjane]

The government of this country is completely out of control.

Yes. How can it all be stopped?

[Canedawg]

“How can it all be stopped?”
*****************************

How have we stopped fascism in the past?

[1rudeboy]

This is cinema material.

[markomalley]

2009: The Year the Free Market system died.

Minor problem: this happened in 2008.

Socialism Fascism sux no matter which administration does it.

[OldDeckHand]

"Yep, the Frontline story on the deal was quite interesting."

Did it, in typical Frontline fashion, attempt to lay the blame for everything at the feet of George Bush - much like they did with either the Republican Congress or Ronald Reagan before him?

[Political Junkie Too]

The government of this country is completely out of control.

The government of this country believes that it is finally restoring control.

-PJ

[OldDeckHand]

"Minor problem: this happened in 2008."

The banking system debacle was a grave wound, but it was the Chrysler/GM takeover that was the coup de grâce.

2008 maimed it. 2009 killed it.

[Miss Didi]

Is this part of the “Paulson was vomiting in his office” story?

[Gritty]

F.A.S.C.I.S.M

Pure and simple

[Mad_Tom_Rackham]

The Fedgov is becoming Mafioso.

[Alter Kaker]

2009: The Year the Free Market system died.

The events described in the article took place in 2008.

[Shady]

I think we need to sue every Demoncrat Member of Congress for our financial losses as individuals. But do it in the World Court to give them a dose of their own medicine!

[NonValueAdded]

Bush took some blame but Lewis came out as almost an American Hero. I took it all with a very large grain of salt but saw this article that supports a lot of what was said in the program. Frontline is an anomaly for PBS but it doesn't completely escape the PBS mission statement.

I'm beginning to think GWB was held hostage to something in his last two years. I'm not ready to don the tinfoil but something happened.

[GeronL]

Fascist government.

[Uncle Miltie]

Hey little sister who’s your Superman?
Hey little sister shot gun!
It’s a nice day to start again
It’s a nice day for a White Wedding