If I hadn't read it here, I would simply not have believed it. Unreal!

They need the executive office at CIT remodeled and Thain has a proven track record.

Members of the elite take care of their own. What does Thain know that he's being bought off not to reveal?

Such talent can't go untapped for long.

Thain knows the Lewis BAC deal, quite well.
"Throw me a bone, or I'll bark all day!"

Funny thing is, the business reporter on WCBS radio in NY said that "CIT couldn't believe their luck, that such an all-star was available!" You can't make this stuff up.

Why are Jeff Skilling, Bernie Ebbers and Dennis Kozlowski sitting in Jail when guys like Thain (and plenty of other WS CEO's) are still "running" companies?

What a travesty!

I'll bet the new Salt Lake City facility will be nicely decorated.

goforbroke that's my reaction too. The club takes care of their own. He can't ruin too much because they're on life support already. Maybe he's just the fall guy for CIT's eventual demise.

For your outrage pleasure:

Merrill Lynch CEO Spent $1,220,000 On Office Renovation As Company Prepared To Burn
By Ben Popken on January 22, 2009 5:29 PM 32905 views

Merrill Lynch CEO John Thain spent over $1.22 million to renovate his office in early 2008, just as his firm was getting ready to slash thousands of jobs, cut back on spending and dump businesses. Here's this douchebag's big-ticket tally of personal aggrandizement in the midst of financial crisis.

The $35,000 "commode on legs," in particular, is drawing ridicule on the Yahoo Finance message boards. It is the perfect metaphor how Thain has flushed his career down the toilet.

Thain, a technology executive at Goldman Sachs, was tapped to take over the New York Stock Exchange from Dick Grasso, whose $187.5 million retirement package drew outrage. His reputation for personal rectitude is what got him that job — as well as the Merrill one, where he replaced Stan O'Neal, a secretive autocrat. Take away that aura of righteousness, and what is left of Thain? Certainly no Clark Kent. He's just another Wall Street disappointment.

$800,00 to hire celebrity designer Michael Smith. He's interior-decorating Obama's White House. For $100,000. Mixing in items from Target.
$87,000 for a ****ing area rug. I think I could buy all of the area rugs in stock at my local IKEA for $87,000, and have enough money left over to buy all my fellow shoppers an all-you-can eat Swedish Meatball feast. Then invest the remainder in high-yield moon-backed derivatives.
$87,000 two guest jerkface chairs
$44,000 another ******n area rug
$37,000 six chairs for private dining room. Who has a dining room in their office?
$35,000 "commode on legs." I'm guessing that's a claw-footed toilet. Bad choice. Those gather dust underneath like nobody's business, let me tell you. Update: Actually it's a chest-of-drawers on legs. Too bad no one told me that before I took a crap in it.
$28,00 four stupid curtains
$25,000 mahogany pedestal table. I think my brother just found one of those on the curb on garbage day recently.
$24,000 "Regency Chairs." These are the kind of chairs that you use to line walls and corners but no one actually sits in and some day they end up in the Met and people are like, wow, that looks like a well-preserved, expensive, uncomfortable chair.
$18,000 "George IV Desk." You can find George I desks just as good on eBay, the advances in the later models are mainly cosmetic.
$16,000 custom coffee table. Shellacked with the blood of virgin Peruvian tribe-boys.
$13,000 chandelier in private dining room. Really fun to swing on.
$11,000 fabric for "Roman Shade." That's a euphemism for something dirty, right?
$5,000 mirror in private dining room. It's the one from Snow White.
$5,000 40 yards of fabric for wall panels. That's actually a pretty good deal. In pesos.
$2,700 6 wall sconces. Sconces are for nancies. Real titans of industry use torches.
$1,400 "Parchment waste can." Guess they were out of vellum.

Aren't you feeling good now that the government gave Bank of America a big check to buy these guys? It was vital to the national interest to prevent the collapse of the interior decorating industry.

You could get the idea that banking in the US is run by a private club consisting of a few hundred families who all belong to the same country club and have a corner on Harvard MBAs.

You could get the idea that the banks these folks run are primarily asset-stripping operations--as in, stripping the assets of the entire US.

Somehow I can't quite believe Thain is some kind of renegade CEO, merrily running companies into the ground, while giving the finger to the board of directors.

Kind of sounds to me like all these people know exactly what they're doing, and Thain is both a member of the "club" and has demonstrated his abilities along the required lines--which seems to mainly consist of the ability to say, "Who coulda' knowed?" Since this is something that could be done by a stuffed parakeet, it would appear that club membership is the chief qualification.

"A proven track record of chicanery and deceit"

Obviously one of the most sought after qualifications by any bank's Board of Directors.

Yeah I call it the ivy league ******* club. Where you get destruoy companies and careers of those who aren't in the club.

"The same John Thain that ran Merrill into the ground with, in part, basis trades (that is, proprietary trading) that blew up in his face? The same John Thain who failed to rein in his prop desk's "geniuses" and was ultimately forced to sell the company to Bank of America? The same John Thain who didn't know how much exposure he had on (otherwise the detonation wouldn't have happened, natch.)"

Indeed, that would be him. When you play for that team, you are always offered a second chance unless you have been sent to prison. Thain spent his time in the penalty box, kept quiet, and now gets another shot. Sort of similar to quarterback Drew Brees, who was cast out from San Diego. Now he is the winning QB of the Super Bowl.

My cousin is a VP at what was Merrill. When I saw the news on FOX this morning I figured he'd have tossed his breakfast on this one... I couldn't wait to send him Karl's commentary... should be an interesting day in their office today... JP

Right on Karl!

This country's sacrifice will be somewhat paid when every current CEO of every company in Wall Street gets thrown out on their ear into the street and left for dead.

I'll remember everyone in Citi's board today for a long time.

Karl, did you know when you wrote this that you would **** us off?

The politics behind this is quite stunning.
CIT's management replaced a number of directors in the past month or so and inserted "thain friendly" directors who have strong leanings to corporate restructing/distressed assets. My speculation here, but when you have corporate vultures running the company, it is usually the company's assets which get picked on first. IMHO CIT, whatever is left of it, will be run into the ground. Profitably for the insiders.

I think a TF pool on how long Thain lasts at CIT might be fun...

The pool might be better on how long CIT lasts under Thain.