Time for Bank of America CEO Ken Lewis to go

A couple months ago, Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) CEO Kenneth Lewis was looking pretty smart. American Banker named him the Banker of the Year in early November but all the bold moves he made to try to capitalize on the meltdown are now looking really, really stupid. The company's acquisition of Merrill Lynch has turned into a complete disaster that could very well have bankrupted the entire company had it not been for the generous support of the United States Taxpayer.

Now there's a growing chorus calling for his resignation: How can a guy whose aggressive dealmaking effectively put the company on the United States welfare roll possibly still have a job? And what about the board of directors that's supposed to provide a check to the CEO's testosterone-fueled dealmaking frenzy?

Thad Woodard, president of the North Carolina Bankers Association told Bloomberg that it isn't fair to criticize Bank of America's management and board because of the severity of the crisis: "Those are smart people on the Bank of America board and they aren't going to make decisions that aren't well thought out."

Except that clearly they did. If they bear no responsibility for what happens to the company, why was Lewis paid $165.49 million over one five-year period? It's time for Lewis to be fired, and time for the board to either bring in someone who knows what they're doing or resign so that shareholders can find someone more competent to turn things around.