Godfather Paulson made banks an offer they couldn't refuse

This is nothing new to anyone, especially considering what we already knew about the BofA/ML prearranged marriage, but now there's proof that Paulson was a government gangster.

clipped from www.bloomberg.com Former Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said nine U.S. banks would have to accept $125 billion in government investments or be forced to by regulators. “If a capital infusion is not appealing, you should be aware that your regulator will require it in any circumstance” “Your nine firms represent a significant part of our financial system. Therefore, in our view, you must be central to any solution,” the memo said. Three and a half hours after the meeting was scheduled to begin, Paulson had obtained the bankers’ signatures on half-page forms along with the handwritten amount of the federal government’s investment, according to the documents. He announced the actions publicly the next day. “Most Americans are going to be uncomfortable with the government forcing the banks into this arrangement,” said Tom Fitton, president of Judicial Watch, a nonprofit research group in Washington that obtained the documents under a Freedom of Information Act request. “This is, in many ways, thuggery.”