Don't want it ... no you must take it!
Drama Behind a $250 Billion Banking Deal
Excerpt:
The chairman of Wells Fargo, Richard M. Kovacevich, protested strongly that, unlike his New York rivals, his bank was not in trouble because of investments in exotic mortgages, and did not need a bailout, according to people briefed on the meeting.
...
“It was a take it or take it offer,” said one person who was briefed on the meeting, speaking on condition of anonymity because the discussions were private. “Everyone knew there was only one answer.”
Getting to that point, however, necessitated sometimes tense exchanges between Mr. Paulson, a onetime chairman of Goldman Sachs, and his former colleagues and competitors, who sat across a dark wood table from him, sipping coffee and Cokes under a soaring rose and sage green ceiling.
Comment: An offer they couldn't refuse! I guess that the Treasury is committed to "Coke" products! No "Pepsi" there!
I hope that at least some of the reluctance on the part of executives might have something to do with being reluctant to have a government bureaucrat on your board of directors, especially one taking advice from a major player in the downfall of Goldman Sachs.
ReplyDelete(I'm still perplexed about why we would think Paulson would know what he's doing now, when he clearly didn't know what he was doing then)