Chrysler's in Crisis and Ken Lewis Laments
Whether or not Chrysler files for bankruptcy today, there sure is something strange about a plan to have Fiat, a union and the government run a company. When my friend owned a Fiat convertible in the eighties, she loved to visit it in the shop. Imagine how the additional layers of union politics and government inefficiency will add to the pleasure of driving a Chrysler? It's going to be like the Three Stooges of car companies -- Luigi, Moe and Curly!
Over in the banking world, Ken Lewis was in no mood for comedy as persnickety Bank of America shareholders yanked his Chairman title. Perhaps a minor victory, but sorry to say, this vote was more symbolic than substantive. The guy whose infinite wisdom brought Merrill Lynch and all of its toxic assets into Bank of America is still running the show. The only interesting outcome is that two factions of successors to Ken Lewis could develop. My bet is on Brian Moynihan, the guy who in 2000, said to me in the Fleet Bank executive dining room, "I think that Quick and Reilly is going to be great for us!"
Can't remember Q&R? They were the discount brokerage firm that was going to help Fleet Bank compete with E*Trade in the dot-com boom -- Fleet acquired Q&R in 1998, just in time for the meltdown. Stay with me here. Bank of America then bought Fleet and in 2004, folded Q&R into the BofA Investment Services division to help them compete with... Merrill Lynch! There's got to be a Three Stooges episode in here somewhere.
