{"id":7414,"date":"2009-03-09T20:24:02","date_gmt":"2009-03-10T03:24:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/?p=7414"},"modified":"2009-03-09T20:24:02","modified_gmt":"2009-03-10T03:24:02","slug":"i-want-myi-want-myi-want-my-ta-r-p","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/7414\/i-want-myi-want-myi-want-my-ta-r-p\/","title":{"rendered":"I want my…I want my…I want my TA-R-P"},"content":{"rendered":"

This is getting too easy.\u00a0 Financial Times<\/em> interviewed Bank of America CEO Ken Lewis.<\/a> His answers reveal why the quasi-government agency that BAC has become is destined to fail.\u00a0 Read the whole article.\u00a0 You’ll swear your reading Orwell’s Animal Farm<\/em>.<\/p>\n

FT: Do you regret your acquisition of Merrill Lynch?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Lewis:\u00a0 I’d be less than honest to say that I haven’t had my moments, but I always try to step back and say don’t judge it by this time and look forward. I still think it’s a compelling, strategic acquisition and we’re going to be awfully happy to have done it over time.<\/p>\n

BRADY (commentary):\u00a0 Ken Lewis gleefully overpaid for the world’s largest securities’ firm out of\u00a0 pride and ego.\u00a0 The prospect of commanding the largest mortgage originator and securities firm appealed to Mr. Lewis’ ego.\u00a0 His feckless behavior showed contempt for his shareholders and will be an expense to the people of the United States but why should he care?
\n<\/em><\/p>\n

FT: Was there a moment when you would have preferred to pull out of the deal?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Lewis:\u00a0 We did in fact think about doing that . . . and consulted with the government about filling the hole [in Merrill’s balance sheet] if we didn’t get out. We were strongly advised that the best thing to do was to go forward with the deal on time. While we made the final decision, we relied heavily on that advice because we respected the opinions of the various agencies.<\/p>\n

BRADY:\u00a0 Ken ain’t calling the shots at BofA; he’s an overpaid government employee now.\u00a0 Wanna know how I know?\u00a0 Read the next question.<\/em><\/p>\n

FT: Have you been surprised by the strings attached to the Tarp money?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Lewis: I’ve been surprised at the reaction of the public for those that have taken the Tarp money when we were doing what we thought was in the best interest of the country.<\/p>\n

BRADY:\u00a0 Read the last five words.\u00a0 Ken Lewis’ responsibility is to do what is in the best interest of the BAC shareholders<\/strong> not the country.<\/em><\/p>\n

The answer is, of course, to break up the banks<\/a> and stop the government from competing with the healthy banking institutions. Read more<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This is getting too easy.\u00a0 Financial Times interviewed Bank of America CEO Ken Lewis. His answers reveal why the quasi-government agency that BAC has become is destined to fail.\u00a0 Read the whole article.\u00a0 You’ll swear your reading Orwell’s Animal Farm. FT: Do you regret your acquisition of Merrill Lynch? Lewis:\u00a0 I’d be less than honest […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_crdt_document":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[251,26],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-7414","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"hentry","6":"category-big-mother","7":"category-lending","9":"no-featured-image"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":7344,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/7344\/the-subprime-bank-of-america\/","url_meta":{"origin":7414,"position":0},"title":"The Subprime Bank of America","author":"Brian Brady","date":"March 6, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Remember those impetuous, ne'er do well subprime borrowers and those greedy subprime lenders?\u00a0 Writing about them is sooo... 2007 but I'm happy to report that both greed and reckless abandon are alive and well today.... ...at Bank of America. Remember Ken Lewis?\u00a0 He's that sober-faced, bespectacled CEO of the Charlotte-based\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Investment"","block_context":{"text":"Investment","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/investment\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7122,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/7122\/sorry-europe-our-president-might-just-cowboy-up\/","url_meta":{"origin":7414,"position":1},"title":"Sorry Europe. Our President Might Just “Cowboy Up”","author":"Brian Brady","date":"February 24, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Bank of America is getting slaughtered by short sellers.\u00a0 The stock has plummeted to under 10% of its March, 2008 value.\u00a0 Of course, a few things happened on the way to the slaughterhouse: The bought Countrywide, America's largest mortgage originator. They bought Merrill Lynch, America's largest retail securities firm. Ken\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Big Mother"","block_context":{"text":"Big Mother","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/big-mother\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2792,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/2792\/stealing-bear-stearns-joe-lewis-aint-pulling-punches\/","url_meta":{"origin":7414,"position":2},"title":"Stealing Bear Stearns: Joe Lewis Ain’t Pulling Punches","author":"Brian Brady","date":"March 17, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Joe Lewis taught us all what the word \"derisory\" meant today when he described the Bear Stearns sale to JP Morgan Chase. Lewis doubts the shareholders will approve the sale to Jamie Dimon's financial services powerhouse. Joe Lewis invested some 9 figures in the cash-strapped investment bank, last year. Bear\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Lending"","block_context":{"text":"Lending","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/lending\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2824,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/2824\/jp-morgan-ups-bid-for-bear-stearns\/","url_meta":{"origin":7414,"position":3},"title":"JP Morgan Ups Bid For Bear Stearns","author":"Brian Brady","date":"March 23, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Have we reached the bottom of the credit crisis? Not likely but we are definitely going through, what Barry Johnson calls, price discovery. From The New York Times via Yahoo News: JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPM.N) is in talks to increase its offer for Bear Stearns CosBear Stearns, (BSC.N) to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Investment"","block_context":{"text":"Investment","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/investment\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":933,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/933\/addressing-what-matters-about-mortgage-matters\/","url_meta":{"origin":7414,"position":4},"title":"Addressing what matters about Mortgage Matters","author":"Greg Swann","date":"January 23, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"I have a certain affection for the Mortgage Matters weblog by Holden Lewis at Bankrate.com. It's a little bit enbubbulated, but that's to be expected from what is, in fact, a mainstream media outlet. That notwithstanding, the site is very informative, and a lot of fun to read. I get\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blogging"","block_context":{"text":"Blogging","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/blogging\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":10508,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/10508\/whats-in-a-name-that-which-we-call-a-job-summit-by-any-other-name\/","url_meta":{"origin":7414,"position":5},"title":"What’s in a name? That Which We Call a “Job” Summit, by Any Other Name…","author":"Sean Purcell","date":"December 7, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"\"When I use a word,\" Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone, \"it means just what I choose it to mean -- neither more nor less.\" \"The question is,\" said Alice, \"whether you can make words mean so many different things.\" \"The question is,\" said Humpty Dumpty, \"which is\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Big Mother"","block_context":{"text":"Big Mother","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/big-mother\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7414","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7414"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7414\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7416,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7414\/revisions\/7416"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7414"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7414"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7414"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}