As noted yesterday, there will be an increasing focus on “who to blame” as this crisis continues.  Who better than those who paid themselves huge bonuses out of their normal timing on the eve of a failure?  Here is more information on the investigation into the 3.6 billion in unscheduled bonuses paid to Merrill’s top people.  “If that $3.6 billion had been evenly disbursed among Merrill’s work force each person would have received about $91,000. Instead, the top four bonus recipients received a total of $121 million, Mr. Cuomo wrote….Mr. Cuomo also wrote that 20 people were paid more than $8 million and 53 people were paid more than $5 million.”

 Here is the link:  http://www.cnbc.com/id/29158034

 Similarly, here is a link to an article making fun of Merrill’s former CEO, John Thain, who in 2008 orchestrated a costly redecoration of his office suite, which cost a cool 1.22 million:  http://www.cnbc.com/id/28796511/ .  Again, watch for more feelings of betrayal and anger from the public as the economy continues to melt.

 Michael