Kenneth D. Lewis There are many ways to view Kenneth Lewis’ eight-year reign as Bank of America Corp. (NYSE: BAC) chief executive, but two seem to hold the most landscape.

On one hand, the $130 billion he spent on acquisitions – FleetBoston Financial Corp., MBNA Corp., LaSalle Bank Corp., Countrywide Financial Corp., Charles Schwab Corp.’s (Nasdaq: SCHW) U.S. Trust private banking unit and Merrill Lynch – that more than tripled the size of Bank of America, making it the largest U.S. lender both by assets and deposits.

On the other, his open-wallet policy and the example it set forth almost perfectly encapsulates the boom, bust and nascent rebound of the U.S. housing and banking crisis – which later became the financial plague that devastated markets all over the world.

In the second half of 2007, the extent of the U.S. housing crisis began to crystallize when Countrywide’s freewheeling

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After earning hefty profits on its commodities trading for nearly 18 years, heavyweight trader Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE: GS) now finds itself on the hot seat, defending this crucial source of revenue. And while that may not be good for Goldman, it’s also bad for investors.  Let me explain…

It all started back in 1991, when J. Aron & Co., Goldman’s commodities-trading division, recommended that a large institutional client invest about $100 million in commodities.  The vehicle “du-jour” was Goldman’s own investment vehicle, the Goldman Sachs Commodity Index (now the S&P GSCI Commodity Index).

The GSCI is a 24-commodity dollar-weighted index, comprised of 70% energy (oil and natural gas), 8% industrial metals (aluminum, copper, lead, nickel and zinc), 3% precious metals (gold and silver), 14% agriculture (wheat, corn, soybeans, cotton, sugar, coffee and cocoa) and 4% livestock (cattle and hogs).

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Contrary to the prevailing analysis, we believe that the Obama and Bush administration insistence on protecting banks at the expense of the taxpayer is the result of a Machiavellian effort by Goldman Sachs and other major banks to influence U.S. economic policy by infiltrating the corridors of power.

Today, we duly note that Goldman Sachs has just hired former Barney Frank staffer Michael Paese to be its top Washington lobbyist. This position was formerly held by Mark Patterson, the current chief of staff at the Treasury.

Pease and Patterson are not the only ones to pass through the revolving door between Washington and Goldman. Bush’s Treasury secretary, Hank “The Hammer” Paulson is a former Goldman CEO. And his replacement, Tim Geithner, was mentored by Gerald Corrigan, a former New York Fed president and current partner and managing director of the Office of the Chairman of Goldman Sachs.

Who else was President Obama considering

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Highlights include Citigroup, Inc. (C), Bank of America Corp. (BAC), Comerica Inc. (CMA), Regions Financial Corp. (RF) and Morgan Stanley (MS).Citigroup's Frugal but Important Reward to Its Smith Barney BrokersIn light of the company's current share price, receipt of substantial capital infusions from the government, and 5 consecutive quarters of losses, Citigroup, Inc. (C) has come up with a more reasonable approach to reward the top revenue-generating advisers of its Smith Barney brokerage division, in lieu of the 3 trips usually planned.Moreover, the rewards will be funded from operating revenue of Smith Barney, not from the capital the government has invested. In addition, the rewards will represent nearly an 80% cost saving over some previous recognition programs.Rising loan losses and defaults as well as write-downs on the value of certain investments, especially those tied to ...

Highlights include Bank of America (BAC), Citigroup (C), JP Morgan Chase (JPM), Wells Fargo (WFC) and American International Group (AIG).As a result of John Thain, former CEO of Merrill Lynch, paying exorbitant bonuses in the weeks before Bank of America (BAC) completed its acquisition of the securities firm on January 1, 2009, BAC's CEO Ken Lewis has received lovely gift – a subpoena from Andrew Cuomo, New York's Attorney General.John Thain was subpoenaed last month, and also was questioned by investigators on Thursday about the bonuses that were paid in late December, just days before Bank of America completed its purchase of New York-based Merrill, according to a person familiar with the investigation. The person requested anonymity because of the ongoing nature of the matter.While BAC does not comment on questions regarding subpoenas, the financial institution did ...

Just when you think that Wall Street cannot get more out of touch, they prove once again that the amount of chutzpah is near infinite. A few years ago, Citigroup (C) placed a $50 million order for a new corporate jet, and they are going to take delivery. True, they would have faced penalties for backing out.

Still, coming on the heels of former Merrill Lynch CEO John Thain's $1.2 million office redecorating -- and billions in last minute bonus payments -- it is just more evidence that they just don't get it. This, and the rest of the bankers' private air force, needs to be sold off immediately.

They needed a bailout because their capital was depleted and the government came through -- they should NOT be using taxpayer funds to buy private jets. Time for Vic Pandit, and the rest of the top bankers, to start flying coach.

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President Barack Obama’s $825 billion stimulus plan heads to the floor of the House of Representatives this week, with House Minority Leader John A. Boehner, R-Ohio, saying many in his party will vote against the package unless significant changes are made.

“Right now, given the concerns that we have over the size of this package and all of the spending in this package, we don’t think it’s going to work,” Rep. Boehner said yesterday (Sunday) on NBC-TV’s “Meet the Press.” “And so if it’s the plan that I see today, put me down in the ‘No’ column.”

The plan – detailed in a Money Morning report last week – could potentially pass the Democrat-dominated House without Republican support, The New York Times reported. But the stimulus plan will face major opposition when it comes before the U.S. Senate, U.S. Sen. John …

Thursday January 22, 2009
Navivest

Just eleven days after Bank of America (BAC) closed its purchase Merrill Lynch and four months after Merrill Lynch agreed to sell itself to Bank of America, John Thain, who was the CEO of Merrill Lynch, has today, been ousted. Bank of America’s general counsel, Brian Moynihan, who will assume the role of President of Global Banking and Global Wealth and Investment Management at BofA, will replace him.

On January 16, Bank of America announced its fourth quarter and full year 2008 earnings results in which it revealed that preliminary results indicated that the newly acquired Merrill Lynch division will be posting a fourth-quarter net loss of $15.31 billion.

This raised a lot of questions for Bank of America and its CEO Ken Lewis, who stated that BAC only learned of the losses in December. To the extent one would expect that BAC would have

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After a two-day “holiday” to start the week–Martin Luther King Day today (Monday) and Inauguration Day tomorrow (Tuesday)–it’ll be back to business on Wednesday as Congress begins to grill U.S. Treasury Secretary nominee Timothy Geithner – the appointment many observers believe to be the most important of the new Barack Obama administration.

Geithner, currently the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, is viewed by Democrats and Republicans alike as probably the most qualified candidate to succeed current Treasury Secretary Henry M. “Hank” Paulson Jr., since whoever fills this post will have to be able to step right in and make whatever moves are needed to fix a financial system that seems to get worse by the week. Geithner is actually viewed as perhaps the one candidate with the qualifications, personality and personality needed for success.

But there’s a problem.  The man chosen by President-elect Obama

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Alex’s Notes: And the massive derivative mess continues to unwind.

The US has pushed so much paper into the markets, and the Fed has used up pretty much all its credit, so the next shoe to drop will be the bond markets.

More bailouts = direct bond issuances by the Federal Reserve. Scary territory.

When that bubble pops, look out, because you aint seen nothin’ yet.

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Bank of America Drops as Merrill May Need U.S. Aid By David Mildenberg

Jan. 15 (Bloomberg) — Bank of America Corp., the biggest U.S. bank by assets, plunged as much as 28 percent in New York trading on concern the company needs more government aid to absorb losses from the acquisition of Merrill Lynch & Co.

The lender slid $2.26 to $7.94 at 10:52 a.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. Bank of America told regulators in December it might abandon the takeover because of Merrill’s worse-than-expected results, and

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