Reply #5: Thanks for the heads up. Managed to catch most of it

[question everything]

I was thinking that the banking and the investment industries used to be the most conservative, cautious businesses around. Here was John Thane who was at Merrill Lynch "only" 9 months, or so, but managed to spend a million dollar or so, on decorating his office.

And I did not realized that B of A is now a southern bank that was established to rebuild the South of the Civil War. I've always thought that it was the same San Francisco bank which has been a California institution.

And it really did not make sense why the banks did not want the money. I thought that they needed it to make loans..