Merrill Lynch spent $1.22 million redecorating for John Thain

He should be tarred and feathered. Why That %&*^&
Hope to see him on the unemployment line or better yet a soup kitchen

Bail them out my ass, let them go under like any small business would have to do, bunch of mothers

This is no comparison to Kozlowski. A $6,000 shower curtain is a lot different than an area rug for $87,784, or a pair of chairs for $28,091 or even a pendant light fixture - $19,751. Not to mention that Tyco was not fighting to stay alive like ML was/is. Plus, the $6,000 shower curtain was put into Tyco's Corporate Apartment which was used for people flying in and out of NY - not for Koz's personal use.

Kozlowski should be free - Thain can take his place along with Madoff and Nadel. These people are showing the public how innocent Kozlowski is and how wrong it was to put him in jail over a pay dispute! Shame on you NY (Morgenthau).

The biggest problem with out financial industry is... BIGNESS. The big banks are said to be too big to let fail, but they are actually too big to manage. So, fail they will. We need to break these banks up into $25 billion units, and quick!

The argument for nationwide banks was better, cheaper service to the consumer. Hogwash! They have almost all hit us with more and more fees and taken away personalized service.

Please, move your business to your hometown banks while you still can.

Nothing in our economy will change if things like this continue to happen.

This is simply obscene, irresponsible, unethical, and "corrupt". These flagrant abusive misuses of corporate funds are simply intoleralble.

John Thain should be required to PERSONALLY pay at least $1.12 million for the excessive amount for "redecorating his CEO office. This certainly shows how "absurdly shallow and self centered" Mr. Thain is . . . this should brand him for the conceited, corrupt FOOL that he is. He certainly should NEVER be given a position of responsibility again in any major corporations.

This totally reflects Thain"s "value system". How many emplyees could have been paid out of that excessive $1.2 million, or how much in dividends would that have amounted to investors?

This is merely an obscene demonstration of the arrogance and lack of judgement of CEOs such as John Thain. They ALL should be FIRED, and then prosecuted for any misuse of corporate funds or having any oversight of the orchestration of pyramid and Ponze shcemes or other FRAUDS. It is time to hold these guys personally, and criminally responsible for the crimes that they have committed.

I think the so called time of “Financial Engineering” is over! The country which is not producing anything is going down the drain. We should let all of failing banks to go down, and directly bail out the people with their OWN money…
As far as our roll as world leaders, please remember Rome. They were overextended, over committed, and corrupt and the empire disappeared. I think, Pres. Obama should pull back all of our troops from everywhere where we have to carry the burden of defending countries, and let the chips fall they may.

This article fairly well sums up the overall tyeps of problems that have created our national economic melt down and collapse.

Our corporations are fraught with CEOs who have failed to perform commensurate with their compensations, and they have arrogantly become some type of "robber barrons" who have developed rather arrogant attitudes of entitlements for obscenely extravagant compensations for "just being" . . . these CEOs have become the scum of our society. They have, in essence, robbed the people and destroyed our economic system.

If this was in China, they would line most of these CEOs up on their knees in front of their graves . . . and then shoot them in the back of their heads. And personally, I do not think that these types of CEOs deserve anything LESS for what they have done.

John Thain is obviously and unequivocally an unethical and worthless managment guy . . . he certainly is not worth a FRACTION of whatever he has been paid. He is a puss filled boil on the body of our society . . . he needs to be removed from our business enterprises . . . and indicted and prosecuted if possible.

By the way, did Thain hire that individual several months ago and grant him a golden parachute and then when he left ML, he received a $35 Mil. departing bonus??????
Mr. A

If you think this is bad, just wait until it comes out that John Thain fathered a secret policy at Bank Of America to get loan officers to steer customers away from fixed rate products in favor of variable rate pruducts due to increased profitability to the bank regardless of whether or not the appllicant was qualified to pay the mortgage after the loan adjusted upward after the teaser period. That;s right, Bank employees were instructed by their supervisors to steer customers away from loanss that they could afford to those which they did not qualify for ( based on in house underwriting and appraisal review) in order to sell mor eprofitable and far riskier products.

It's time that Bank fo America and Wells Fargo are brought to justice for their intentional criminal misconduct...It's time to let these naughty criminal giants fail and prosecute responsible individuals like John Thain to the full extent of the law.

For more infor contact me at forrestfreedman@aol.com

I'm sick and tired of hearing newspapers/media calling the bad loans as "TOXIC" for the corrupt BANKS. You NEVER hear them saying how "TOXIC" the bad loans WERE OR ARE for the AVERAGE AMERICAN who bought into the sub-prime ponzi scheme. There had to be SOMEONE with half a brain to know what these loans were TOXIC PERIOD.

Merrill Lynch are the biggest crooks on Wall Street. I was with them a few years ago. Their salesmen pestered me with "wonderful tips" to get me to buy stocks that immediately crashed.

They turned my 86-year-old mother's substantial retirement funds into soda pop while stealing commissions and charging her management fees. Some Merrill Lynch executives should go to jail! I will badmouth them to my dying day!!! Crooks-crooks-crooks!!!

After Mr. Thain took over at Merrill Lynch, my boss terminated me and another fellow because he told me that the new boss stopped all the flowers deliveries to the office at the Financial Center. It's been impossible for both of us to get another job because there is nothing out there. Now I found out that this man that was preaching saving the company's money was out there buying $85,000 carpets and $30,000 chairs...for the price of the carpet alone I would have kept my job for two more years to support my family instead of looking for hand-outs from the welfare department...

AN INTERESTING COMMENT MADE BY FORREST FREEDMAN WHEN HE MENTIONED THAT BANK OF AMERICA REPRESENTATIVES WOULD SWAY LOAN CUSTOMER TO VARIABLE LOANS DUE TO THE FACT THAT MORE COMMISSION WOULD BE PAID - EVEN IF THE CUSTOMER QUALIFIED FOR A FIXED RATE. I WORKED IN FINANCIAL SERVICES FOR 10 YEARS AND I KNOW FOR A FACT THAT REPS CAN BE PERSUADED BASED ON COMMISSION. WHAT I'M TIRED OF IS HEARING THE MEDIA/NEWSPAPERS REFER TO THE "TOXIC LOANS" WHEN IT COMES TO THE BANKS - BUT WHEN IT COMES TO THE CONSUMERS THEY ARE REFERRED TO AS REGULAR "MORTGAGE LOANS." THESE LOANS. THERE IS NO DIFFERENCE FROM MADOFF'S PONZI SCHEME OR THE BANK'S TOXIC LOAN PONZI SCHEME. SOMEONE EARLIER MENTIONED TRANSFERRING OUR MONEY FROM THESE "TOXIC BANKS" TO SMALLER BANKS. THAT'S THE BEST ADVICE FOR EVERYONE. LET AMERICANS' DECIDE WHERE THEY CHOOSE TO SHOP - INSTEAD OF OUR OVER CONTROLLING GOVERNMENT.

Business as usual I am afraid. Make all the money you can and to hell with the real value of your services. if A-Rod can make $22 million a year I want $25 million cuz I ain't no part time ballplayer. If some movie star can make $100 million I want $200 million cuz I'm in the real world. When will this end? When our country is destroyed and destitute. Wall Street is, fo an analogy. a big sports book. You make a buy - they taks a slice. You make a sell - they take a slice. Just like a bookie. They produce nothing. How can you make millions a year producing nothing? Because no one can see you or shine the light of day on your misdeeds. the stuff Thain did is done in every Boardroom on Wall Street - EVERY ONE.

Thanks for your interesting post regarding BOA reps choosing variable loans vs. fixed loans due to higher commissions - even to those who qualified for fixed loans. I was in the financial services for a long time and remember the easy commissions - lots - the same with insurance, loans, brokers.........all these people make money off of innocent TRUSTING Americans. The Government calls these loans "TOXIC FOR THE BANKS." OH - BUT IT DOES NOT MAKE IT TOXIC FOR THE PEOPLE WHO BOUGHT INTO THE SUB-PRIME PONZI SCHEME LOANS!!! I'm sorry - let the banks fail and quit trying to save them!!! NO MORE PLAYING GAMES W/ AMERICANS!!!!! WE ARE SICK AND TIRED OF PONZI SCHEMES!!! THE BANKS DESERVE NO HELP. Let's move our money where we want - maybe a smaller more honest bank - if there is such a thing!! ALL THE CEO'S AND OTHERS RESPONSIBLE - GET READY TO HAVE YOUR LIFE TURNED INSIDE AND OUT!! HA, HA!

These guys have no conscience. He should have to reimburse the company for being so irresponsible and poor leader. While the stock was falling he was decorating??

One way we the small people can fight this
is to quit doing business with them.
And stop anything we are doing with them,
and switch to someone that's not getting
bail-out money!

Great posts! We have to put mega pressure on our gov't to get rid of this kind of kaos. Isn't this bozo the ceo who was crying about not getting his $10M bonus just a few weeks back? Goodness these ceo's have got to go!

thain, thain, thain.... what were you thinking? or NOT thinking? but hold on folks, BAC/MER will be handing out $$$millions 2morrow of (YOUR $$) in tarp funds to "retain" the precious advisors of the belly up ML. Its a "retention bonus" that was negotiated months ago to keep ML advisors from jumping ship and to lock them in for 7+ years.... payday slated for Friday 1/23/09..... lewis, lewis, lewis, what are YOU thinking?