this is cute:

Obama made an apparent allusion to reports that former Merrill Lynch CEO John Thain spent over $1 million renovating his office after he was hired as an executive at Bank of America (BAC, Fortune 500), to which he sold Merrill late last year.

He cited reports about companies "going out and renovating bathrooms or offices" and "the lack of accountability and transparency in how we are managing some of these programs to stabilize the financial system."

http://money.cnn.com/2009/01/23/news/economy/obam...

btw, Boston results for many terms searched could be skewed by students and academics writing their these and research papers.

http://www.google.com/intl/en/trends/about.html#1...

yes and the new King should declare financial amnesty to all.

Bear Sterns was acquired by JPM only with the federal guarantees as a part of that deal. as a matter of fact the Fed has already absorbed some of the losses. we do know that unlike JPM and Bear Sterns there were no explicit and legal guarantees. anyhow, you are absolutely right.

it is interesting that Goldman Sachs people took over the country for a while. Paulson got to decide who lives and who dies, who by water and who by fire.

tomorrow will be an interesting day. BofA moved its earnings announcement

but your point is well taken, of course. i can't find it now but i remember how Lewis was explaining the lack of serious due diligence by saying something about how well he knew MER and its people.

there were no original guarantees.

whatever they got before in October was not connected to the acquisition of MER. when the deal was done there was no TARP funds at all. the money he is asking now was promised to him in December before the closing on Jan 1, according to the reports. and it could be that he is really after the federal guarantees similar to JPM and Bear Sterns.

1. unfortunately, the value of their financial advice is all too clear from very real losses many investors are suffering right now.
2. small correction: BofA bought MER on January 1. According to the reports, Lewis blackmailed the Treasury in December that he will walk away from the deal unless he gets cash and guarantees.

well, of course he will end up in jail. i meant how comfortably he was let to arrange his bail etc. compare this to a young black guy stealing a pair of $30 sneakers.