He was our price

From the New York Times

Former Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr. came under sharp criticism on Thursday for his role in forcing Bank of America to complete its acquisition of Merrill Lynch, as lawmakers accused Mr. Paulson of misleading Congress about how government money would be used to rescue banks, and by the hearing’s afternoon session in Washington they were actively criticizing the banking bailout.

Mr. Paulson was also sharply questioned about his ties to Goldman Sachs, a recipient of $10 billion in bailout money.

Edolphus Towns of New York, started the hearing by calling the Merrill deal “a marriage of convenience” in which “Ken Lewis got what he wanted and the Treasury and Fed got what they wanted.”

“Ken Lewis appears to have manipulated this unaccountable system to his benefit,” Mr. Towns said in his opening statement.

“The problem is that while all this was going on, the American people, investors and Congress were kept in the dark,” he said.

*My personal question is, why was that not obvious back then and why do we still feel like the jokers at the treasury and the fed are ok today being left to their own devices?