Rebel Traders - Stock Market and Economic Analysis

Perhaps yesterdays revelation that Merrill Lynch, under the stewardship of John Thain, gave out Billions of dollars in bonuses just days before they were purchased by Bank of America. And then later announced they had huge losses and needed more Government (tax payer) money.

I think Ken Lewis (CEO) of Bank of America was genuinely pissed off about John Thain’s actions. But, at the same time I am confident that Mr. Lewis was ‘fully’ aware of the bonuses being handed out at Merrill. He is just ticked off that it made the press and everybody is criticizing them for it (and rightfully so). So Mr. Lewis is just playing the game of trying to make it all appear as if this is John Thain’s fault.

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This is all the evidence needed that the CEO’s of the large banks and financial institutions are only looking out for themselves, even as they ask for money from the tax payers!

They claim they are being ‘good stewards’ of our tax payer money. This is a lie!

The Financial Times is running this story tonight… hot off the presses:

Merrill Lynch took the unusual step of accelerating bonus payments by a month last year, doling out billions of dollars to employees just three days before the closing of its sale to Bank of America.

The timing is notable because the money was paid as Merrill’s losses were mounting and Ken Lewis, BofA’s chief executive, was seeking additional funds from the government’s troubled asset recovery programme to help close the deal.[...]

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