Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Barney Frank - Unapologetic Shakedown Artist



Here we go again, the Boston Globe and it's favorite Communists are whining about losing the jobs THEY SCARED AWAY.

Investing in New York
Bank of America to shift a big part of its 'wealth' operation away from Boston

In the long rivalry between Boston and New York, score another one for the Big Apple.

Bank of America Corp. said yesterday that a big part of its investment management operation will be run from New York City, following the bank's $50 billion purchase of Merrill Lynch & Co.

Both units are now headquartered in Boston, but officials said the company has yet to determine whether the executives who lead U.S. Trust and Columbia will remain in place and, if so, whether they will stay in Boston.

Bank of America put the Global Wealth business in Boston in 2004 following criticism from political leaders, including US Representative Barney Frank, the Newton Democrat who now chairs the House Financial Services Committee, that it was cutting too many local jobs following its purchase of FleetBoston Financial Group for $48 billion.

Yesterday, Frank said he is "very disturbed" by Bank of America's announcements and said he plans to talk to executives there this morning.

"That was a big deal when they put wealth management here, and I'm very troubled" by yesterday's moves, Frank said, noting the approvals the bank received to complete its purchase of FleetBoston Financial. "I'll be reminding them they gave us certain assurances and got some cooperation in return. I'll be very unhappy if this leads to job losses in our area."




Now, in the fog of all this agitprop and innuendo, it may be hard to discern all the BS in this story. Luckily, y'all have me to translate.

Now when there's a merger - like say Fleet Bank and Bank of America - the role of Congress is ONLY to step in for reasons of antitrust. Their interest is limited to the effect of the business combination on consumer choice.

But not if you're Congressmen and House Finance Committee member Barney Frank. He admits to getting *assurances* after complaining about potential *job losses* four years ago during the Fleet merger. Frank openly confesses he doled out *some cooperation* in return. Can you say *shakedown*?

In other words, the overall public interest be damned. It's all about Barney Frank's personal political interest; it's about keeping jobs for his constituents.

It doesn't really matter if he scares out-of-state ten jobs for every one that he *saves* - and co-opts the credit for.

As all the free enterprises continue to leave (Fidelity, Gillette, BoA, etc), his constituency only firms up.

3 comments:

Slow-Rion said...

So I'm guessing your relocating.

Congress is stupid. Every member wants to bring it home for their district at the expense of the greater good. Doesn't matter which party or which member. they would much rather generate one job in their district at the expense of 10 somewhere else than vice versa.

CaptiousNut said...

No relocation, yet.

I'm torn because I like the people here - just hate the entire area outside of this South Shore oasis.

Slow, did I mention that the weather in New England sucks ?

Anonymous said...

Barney Frank was asleep at the switch and should be blamed for the financial meltdown. He chaired the house commitee that had oversight on the matter,. Now he is doing a magical excuse-me tour and re-election campaign. He was too busy s#$%ing d*@# to pay attention. I say dump the fat f@@&*#.