Former Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson says that his bullying of former Bank of America CEO Kenneth Lewis was justified:
In prepared testimony, Paulson said he told Bank of America CEO Kenneth Lewis last year that reneging on his promise to purchase Merrill would show a “colossal lack of judgment.”
Paulson said that “under such circumstances,” the Federal Reserve would be justified in removing management at the bank.
“By referring to the Federal Reserve’s supervisory powers, I intended to deliver a strong message reinforcing the view that had been consistently expressed by the Federal Reserve, as Bank of America’s regulator, and shared by the Treasury, that it would be unthinkable for Bank of America to take this destructive action for which there was no reasonable legal basis and which would show a lack of judgment,” Paulson said.
Paulson said he believed his remarks to Lewis were “appropriate.”
Guess this means that government thuggery is now the standard.
