Republican Congressman Darrell Issa Says Ben Bernanke Crossed the Line with Bank of America - Merrill Deal

Darrell Issa believes former Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Ben Bernanke 'inappropriately' exerted undue influence on Lewis to complete the merger. Bernanke has agreed to testify (without subpoenas) before the committee. Though the hearings are backward-looking and BAC is currently happy with the Merrill deal, the purpose of the hearings is to demonstrate to the markets that future undue government influence in private business will not be tolerated. Issa is rationalizing this as an attempt to assuage certain market fears.

I completely disagree with Issa on this. He is trying to get publicity for himself. Even if Bernanke strong-armed Lewis, he and Paulson were responding to a tsunami-type financial crisis. The duties to shareholders here rest with Ken Lewis, not the government.