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  • Vox Rationalis: 
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  Yeah - never mind that he was completely derelict in his fiduciary duties, withholding material information from his shareholders that cost them BILLIONS of dollars.

  Oct 01 09:38 AM | Link | Reply
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  • MarketGuy: 
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  Dick Bove supporting banking? With the frosting being it's on
  CNBC "Squawk Box"?
  
  This is supposed to be surprising, or pass as "news"?

  Oct 01 09:42 AM | Link | Reply
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  • August9: 
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  Hey Dick, Did you forget the man epitomized hubris, he destroyed a prominent bank only to be saved by Big Brother, was asleep at the wheel and surrounded himself with yes men on his so called board of directors. Your support for him cast some doubts on your brilliant past analytical work.

  Oct 01 09:43 AM | Link | Reply
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  • davidbdc: 
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  Think Bove has this one wrong. Its fine to say good things about how Lewis built BOA......you can speculate about what more he could have accomplished.....but there is no getting around the fact that he did not look out for his shareholders.
  
  Personally, I believe there is some truth to the idea he was told to do it by Bernanke and Paulson.......thats fine, but if he agreed to the price and then found out the information he needed to step up and represent his shareholders......even if it would have been a reduced price that still served the purpose of helping the overall financial system. His time has come and gone.

  Oct 01 09:44 AM | Link | Reply
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  • Tack: 
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  Clearly, there were political pressures placed upon Lewis to consummate the Merrill deal, although I think his aggressiveness probably made him susceptible to the idea.
  
  In the end, the Merill deal wasn't $50B, as popularly believed; it was $19B, at closing, and Countrywide was only $4B. Already Merrill is contributing to BAC's trading gains, and when the realty market recovers, the same critical pundits will be opining what a visionary move the Countrywide acquisition was. BAC is a mere few billion behind the "annointed" JPM in market cap, and it's my guess that BAC's growth rate will see it exceed JPM within 2-3 years, and become the U.S.'s largest bank.
  
  Just as when regional bank, Nation's Bank, devoured Bank of America, that kind of success is never achieved by being shy and retiring.
  
  In the end, this is just another typical case of being on the wrong side of the media in this country, as if they're ever right about anything.

  Oct 01 10:04 AM | Link | Reply
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  • Anthony Alfidi: 
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  Wake up, Dick. Ken Lewis exposed BofA shareholders to massive losses when he caved in to Hank Paulson's threat to take Merrill Lynch or else. There is nothing at all "phenomenally good" about that, for shareholders or the financial system.

  Oct 01 11:59 AM | Link | Reply
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  • William M. ...: 
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  Kens friends claims he's just worn down from this non-stop much-to-do-about-nothing no-news creation. This nonsense has turned an Ant hill into a Mountain for the benefit of News Media who want to create stories where no stories exist for this 24/7 business news world and elected officials who want to be seen on TV and intervied to get face time for votes.
  
  At the peak in the madness of the big bank sell offices in Feb. Ken invested around $2 million of his own money to by BAC for around $3 bucks. So, good for Ken he has about $8 million more bucks to enjoy in retirement -not that he needs it.

  Oct 03 03:16 PM | Link | Reply