B.O.H.I.C.A. - the bailout continues as the financial meltdown shows no signs of abating

b.o.h.i.c.a. = bend over, here it comes again...

bank of america is the latest financial vampire to sink its teeth into the already-dessicated american taxpayer...

[T]he government agreed early Friday to provide an additional $20 billion infusion of capital into the bank and to cover the bulk of up to $118 billion in losses, largely arising from the bank’s Merrill acquisition.

Overall for 2008, Bank of America posted a net profit of $4.01 billion compared with net income of $14.98 billion a year earlier.

It said earnings were driven reflected “the deepening economic recession and extremely challenging financial environment, both of which significantly intensified in the last three months of 2008.”

but, wait...! there's MORE...! hold on to your wallets... citi is probably next in line...

Citigroup capped a devastating 2008 by announcing Friday that it would split into two entities and that it had posted an $8.29 billion loss for the fourth quarter.

When John A. Thain, left, of Merrill Lynch and Kenneth D. Lewis of Bank of America announced their companies’ merger in September, it looked as if Mr. Lewis had scored a coup. But now Bank of America is in need of more federal money to deal with Merrill’s losses.

Citigroup’s rival, Bank of America, also posted a loss, just hours after receiving a new infusion of government support.

Underlining the depth of the problems that have emerged from its acquisition of Merrill Lynch, Bank of America said Merrill had a fourth-quarter net loss of $15.31 billion, or $9.62 per diluted share, “driven by severe capital markets dislocations,” before the acquisition was completed.

Even as Bank of America was coping with the challenge of absorbing Merrill, Citigroup was announcing the latest steps in dismantling its own financial supermarket.

Citigroup confirmed that it would divide, for management purposes, into two separate businesses — Citicorp and Citi Holdings.

and, if you think things are slowing down in the financial meltdown department, check this out...

Last fall, as Federal Reserve and Treasury Department officials rode to the rescue of one financial institution after another, they took great pains to avoid doing anything that smacked of nationalizing banks.

They may no longer have that luxury. With two of the nation’s largest banks buckling under yet another round of huge losses, the incoming administration of Barack Obama and the Federal Reserve are suddenly dealing with banks that are “too big to fail” and yet unable to function as the sinking economy erodes their capital.

Particularly in the case of Citigroup, the losses have become so large that they make it almost mathematically impossible for the government to inject enough capital without taking a majority stake or at least squeezing out existing shareholders.

nationalized banks... cool...! it will be the absolute death knell for the capitalist, free-market, "invisible hand" quasi-religious ideology... and about goddam time, too...! < /snark >

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