Posted by lae2 on June 11, 2009 at 12:15:33:
This is the biggest joke. If Lewis admits to being threatened the he cannot take credit for the favorable outcome of the ML acquisition.
The "threat" was, in fact, a gift from the Treasury to Lewis. Capitol Hill took on the risk of the merger that would have been Lewis's risk. It was beautiful for Lewis. He could not possibly lose once the "threat" was made. He made noise about a MAC, the treasury took on the risk, and Lewis did what he wanted to do all along. If things went bad, the power base on Capitol Hill would have been shifted. Once the threat was made, BOA was guaranteed to succeed. Lewis played Paulson like a drum.