2 bit horrible

Guambat ain't no finance wiz (but that Son of a Guambat is becoming one), but even old Guambat knows that 6 quarters is a buck and a half.

So how can you turn a buck fifty into a $39,100,000,000.00 loss?

Ask Merrill Lynch, aka Bank of America, aka the American Taxpayers:

Merrill Lynch Lost $39.1 Billion In Six Quarters

But don't ask Barry Ritholtz.

The United States of Wall Street just added another major holding to its portfolio of financial garbage: Bank of America.

Like Citi, BA has now received more MORE IN BAILOUT MONEY than its actually worth. (BAC = $53B; C = $21B) How this can ever be a profitable investment, as some mathematically challenged Congress-critters have suggested, is all but impossible to imagine.

Blaming “previously undisclosed losses from its Merrill Lynch,” B of A threatened to kill their purchase of Mother Merrill. Treasury made an emergency capital injection of $20 billion, on top of the $15B and $10B already received by BA and MER respectively. The taxpayers will also backstop $118 billion of assets, setting up what is likely to be a jumbo money losing trade.

What should have happened in both instances was an orderly liquidation, selling off the pieces to competent managers who understand risk, and can manage smaller portions of the firm. Instead, the same idiots who helped destroy all of companies involved are still running the show.