Merrill Lynched

As Merrill Lynch awaits for its fate to be sealed by Bank of America shareholders, I took the opportunity of the relative calm of Black Friday to look back on the Blundering Herd. After all, this was once a great name on the Street - up until the late1980s, it was still a firm that I felt pretty comfortable doing business with.

Then it all started to go wrong as the top brass at Merrill decided to push itself ever higher up the greasy pole, equating firm size with quality. The truth hurts, but Merrill Lynch staff by then were simply not as good as comparable firms. If you wanted (and could afford) the best, you'd look elsewhere. At every major screw-up in the capital markets over the last decade, Merrill was there. Orange County, auction rate bid rigging, subprime...to paraphrase the old saying, "cherchez le Merrill".

BoA shareholders might still get a sudden attack of common sense and ditch the deal next week. After all, they could buy ML at a fraction of the price agreed in September. Let ML hit the wall, buy it up at distressed pricing, scorch the (corporate) earth and pick off the few valuable assets left. If BoA goes ahead as is, their neck will be in the noose for a long time.