April 2, 2009
Bank of America’s Ken Lewis was a guest for one hour this morning on CNBC’s Squawk Box. Lewis is the CEO of BofA. They have received $45 billion in TARP funds, and have another $118 billion available to them. They also paid out nearly $7 billion in bonuses in 2008. You might remember BofA received money from the taxpayers to buy out Merrill Lynch for $50 billion; with a guarantee from the government they would not loose any money on the purchase. The latter was confirmed by Lewis this morning.
Most of the hour was spent talking to Lewis and asking him question. The trio, Becky Quick, Joe Kernen, and Carl Quintanilla, were very cordial and all smiles. Lewis wasn’t actually in the studio — he and Quick were in the George H.W. Bush library in College Station, Texas, located between Houston and Dallas. During the interview Bush sent an email to “his friend” Lewis and thanked him for coming to his library. Lewis responded by saying that Bush was a “very good friend”.
To say the very least, the vast majority of the questions were ‘banker friendly’ questions. Absolutely no tough questions were asked and not one single question was asked on what the TARP money was spent on. Exactly what one might expect from CNBC. Lewis even had the gall to say with a sweet smile “we were asked to take the money”. Quick, with a snickering smile, responded with “Really”?
At one point Lewis said “this is starting to feel like an old fashion recession”. Maybe in his world a recession is so rare he really has nothing to compare. But I figure he’s either in denial of the situation our country is in or he doesn’t care.
Peering “between the questions” asked, a pattern quickly emerged — the CNBC host were simply “loading & aiming” the gun, so all Lewis had to do was “pull the trigger”. In one response on regulations and bonuses Lewis said they had to “watch the White House”. Now that was really humorous.
Lewis was asked how the proposed rules of compensation were affecting BofA. Naturally, the suggested answer was offered in advance. Being the quick & intelligent man he is, Lewis responded with the desired answer which was they are loosing talent and recruiting wasn’t easy. He scoffed at the idea employees had no place else to go, to which a nod and a “knowing” smile was returned. Naturally, no one thought to ask who was hiring.
A few questions were read from viewers who emailed them in. Man — I thought people in America were outraged at the bankers. But just like CNBC, not one single person had a tough question. Most questions were simply generalized ones. (One woman did want to know what number to call to get her mortgage refinanced.) To say the least, I was shocked. Ahhhhh ——— you don’t think, maybe —— that the questions were purged to weed out any uncomfortable ones, do you?
Someone, I can’t recall who, asked Lewis who the “hero’s” were in trying to fix the financial problem. He wouldn’t name anyone specific, just simply said “the feds”. No S*#t! Anything the bankers asked for, the feds simply handed over with no questions asked. They’d be my hero too. About those who tried to “disrupt” the plan, he gave no real response except to say something about those who “created uncertainty”. That was obviously in reference to those calling for the end to bonuses.
Lewis was not challenged on one single thing he said or one single answer he gave. It was “business as usual” for CNBC, just like years before when they were marveling and drooling at all those bankers and fund managers who were telling them how great things were and how much money was being made. Rule number one: never question the crooks; but batter the hell out of the cops.
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