Apparently, some of the animals are more equal than others:
The bailout formula called for banks to get an amount equal to as much as 3 percent of their risk-weighted assets, with aid capped at $25 billion for each institution, according to the report. By size, Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America could have qualified for more, and the first two received $25 billion.
But Bank of America was given only $15 billion in October, since Merrill Lynch was earmarked for $10 billion. The two companies agreed to a merger, though their deal had not yet been approved by regulators or shareholders.
Bank of America ultimately received Merrill’s $10 billion in January — as well as $20 billion in additional bailout funds — but if the bank had not been involved in the Merrill deal, it would probably have received $25 billion at the outset, as did Citigroup and JPMorgan.
Another company in the process of a merger was not treated the same. Wells Fargo was acquiring Wachovia, and it received both companies’ money at the start, according to the inspector general.
That’s certainly interesting. I wonder why that might have been. Neither Bank of America nor Wells Fargo are New York banks. Ken Lewis, CEO of Bank of America at the time, went to Georgia State University and Stanford University for graduate school. Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPMorgan went to Tufts and Harvard Business School. Not a member of the club? Is it possible that might have had something to do with it?
This meme is old. The truth is that Lewis knew about 9/11 before it happened (Bush told him) and they both made lots of money shorting the market (Lewis investing for Bush).