I have a question about a half heard news report - I only caught part

[hedgehog]

of the story on the radio, but are there investigations underway regarding the Bush team's handling of the economic melt-down last Fall? I caught something about Bank of America being lied to about Merill Lynch and/or being forced to buy it up. If the Bush people were taking advantage of a possible Depression to do a little insider trading on the side.....

[lame54]

1. Let's move forward...

:sarcasm:

[Adelante]

2. Pelosi Wall Street Probe Follows Pecora After Crash

April 21 (Bloomberg) -- Wall Street may be heading for the deepest investigation of its practices since a congressional panel’s probe of abuses following the 1929 stock market crash.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi plans to push for a comprehensive inquiry, saying that three-quarters of Americans want to know what led to the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. and the collapse of Bear Stearns Cos. and Merrill Lynch & Co. She favors one patterned after Senate Banking Committee hearings led by Ferdinand Pecora starting in 1933, according to her spokesman, Nadeam Elshami.

The Pecora review “was probably the single most important congressional investigation in the history of our country, except perhaps the Watergate hearings,” Donald Ritchie, associate historian for the U.S. Senate, said in an interview.

Congress is reacting to an economic collapse that has generated $1.3 trillion in financial industry losses, $700 billion in U.S. taxpayer cash infusions and loans, and $37 trillion in destroyed world stock market value since 2007. The Pecora Commission generated public support for creating the Securities and Exchange Commission and laws that governed financial services for seven decades.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601109&sid=aX8OXwhcJXVU&refer=home

[supernova]

3. BofA claims that the Bush WH

told them to keep mum about buying ML. Why? To make it seem like ML had handled it on their own, I guess, when the other big brokerage houses were looking mighty stupid?

:shrug:

[blm]

5. well, BushInc got UBS to buy up control of Enron's 'investment' arm before Feds went in, right?

They moved quickly to cover up whatever criminal tracks were on the books on Merrill Lynch, imo.

[TreasonousBastard]

4. I heard the same story...

BoA had second thoughts about taking over Merrill after they saw the real numbers, but were told to do the deal and never say a word about it. Did Al Capone rise from the grave and get a job at Treasury?

Now, if gummint was as anxious to enforce environmental and food safety rules down corporate throats as it is this financial stuff...

(If they can "fire" the head of GM, can't they "fire" the head of Monsanto, Dow, or ADM?)