Abandoning free market principles

There's some troubling news emerging about former Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson and Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke about the roles the played in Bank of America's purchase of Merrill Lynch. The Wall Street Journal writes about an offer BoA CEO Ken Lewis could not refuse.

The WSJ piece (in its entirety here) states:

In the name of containing "systemic risk," our regulators spread it. In order to keep Mr. Lewis quiet, they all but ordered him to deceive his own shareholders. And in the name of restoring financial confidence, they have so mistreated Bank of America that bank executives everywhere have concluded that neither Treasury nor the Federal Reserve can be trusted.

President Bush said he abandoned free market principles to save the free market. Talk about a toxic asset.

I encourage you to read the WSJ piece.