1) Bob Mcann from UBS would buy ML and fire everyone.  LOL

2)  If BAC were to have a serious issue, it would turn into a C or an AIG, and any respectable business person with integrity would leave for JP Morgan/Chase.

3) People said the same thing about that journalist fpor forbes who uncovered Enrons crap, when no one would answer her questions. 

They bit off more than they could chew....Merrill and Countrywide....you had to be smokin the good stuff to buy these 2 firms so close together. 

They rolled up Tarp money and smoked it. 

Otane, I agree with you. The CW purchase especially, I mean seriously, how big an IQ was necessary to see that was a serious financial black hole?

You realize that WB was inches away from being bought by C, at the hands of the regulators? If not for WFC coming in at the last second, saying "hold on now, we'll pay 6 TIMES AS MUCH..."

Unreal.

Meanwhile, WAMU gets stolen by JPM for 2 bills, robs the parent company of 4 Billion, and that is supposed to be OKIEDOKE... WAMU stockholders and bondholders were completely bent over by the regulators. What country is this??

If you look at the financial figures of the banks for the last 2 years and believe ANY of it, you haven't been reading the news.  Most everyone sees another dip in housing prices coming and BAC hasn't even recognized most of their losses yet.  The liability (legal and from buybacks) from the foreclosure mess is going to go on for 2+ more years. 

Why should anyone pay their mortgage if it is underwater?

Why would you continue to pay your car payments, it dpereictates every month?  C'mon

Why would any municipality continue to pay interest or principal to bondholders?

Sarcasm aside, I know a real estate agent/landlord that is walking. The point to Beagles comment is, B of A and other "lenders" are dragging along on this modification/foreclosure track while folks are still locked into 6% plus loans ( can't refinance because underwater). The lenders got bailed, homeowners still getting screwed, aren't big companies great?

The reason you would walk is because it was the best thing for you. The reason a state would go broke is because it is the only way to renegotiate underfunded pension obligations. The WSJ had a big article the other day about how the Chinese government is funding industries to the detriment of multinational corps, and how Geitner believes these companies should think of their own citizens as they transfer technology and jobs to China. This is like asking a congressman of four decades to come clean about unethical practices.

Wait until B of A starts throwing foreclosure inventory on the market. Some little guys should start looking out for themselves, for example threaten to walk unless their mortgage gets modified - then we could back to rational behavior based on market economics.

I hate this delayed moderation scheme. Don't know how much posting I can do here going forward, I need to be able to write and edit, think, write, edit.

[quote=cutacheck]

Why would you continue to pay your car payments, it dpereictates every month?  C'mon

[/quote]

I don't have any car payments, and my cars are not still depreciating.  A home is potentially an appreciating asset, that would be the incentive to keep making your payments, even if it was underwater, IF the interest rate was "fair", based on everything that has happened.

The greed of the "banks" continues unabated. The banks get cheap money from the taxpayers, but the taxpayers continue to get hosed on mortage interest rates if they are underwater. Most march along like patriotic good citizens, doing their best to make the payments, thus removing critical demand from the economy. Too bad most people don't understand basic economics.