The entire global 'economic' structure changed under Bush/Cheney. It was 'driven' into disaster during the final two years of Republican influence after Paulson took over Treasury.
When attempting to 'recover' the USA and the economy the 'before' and 'after' pictures of eight years of Bush is more than startling.
Denials (click title to entry - thank you)
...Mr Paulson, in prepared congressional testimony, said that the merger was in the best interest of the US and the two firms, adding that remarks he made during discussions of the deal were "appropriate".
He added that it would be "unthinkable" for Bank of America to walk away - a step he described as "destructive action for which there was no reasonable legal basis and which would show a lack of judgment".
His comments are expected to take the pressure off the chairman off the Fed's chairman, Ben Bernanke.
Two weeks ago, Mr Bernanke repeatedly denied the accusation that he had told Mr Lewis that he would be fired if he backed out of the Merrill deal.
Nor did he instruct Mr Paulson to threaten Mr Lewis, he said.
Congressmen believe Mr Lewis's job had been threatened after he expressed second thoughts about the takeover.
Stress tests
Bank of America agreed to buy Merrill for $29bn (£17.5bn) last September, a deal that happened with Fed approval.
In the same weekend, the US central bank declined to bail out Lehman Brothers, which subsequently collapsed....
