Biz: Was Bank of America strong-armed into taking on Merrill Lynch?
- A buncha e-mails say yes. Remember the fun times of about eight months ago, when the economy was going in the basement and all these unlikely mergers of huge financial firms happened? Well, Bank of America’s takeover of Merrill Lynch was one. And according to e-mails between the feds and the firm, they may have been pressured into it by Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke. After the deal went through, BofA’s shares took a nosedive and the government had to bail them out big time. source