Bank Might Have Used Bail-Out Funds For Pre-Election Political Conference

Another very disappointing story has emerged where Bank Of America apparently hosted a corporate pre-election, Oct 17, 2008 political conference on how to engage in political activity such as fighting the Employee Free Choice Act only three days after receiving $25 billion in federal bail-out funds.

The story is yet another disappointing example of a major banking institution possibly abusing the intent of the $700 billion federal bank bail-out. All funds should have been directly used to help to extend credit or loans or to pay for critical operating costs, not to fly executives around the country for some purely partisan and political conferences about proposed legislation dealing with labor unions which isn't even law or how to elect more Republican senators in 2010.

The conference paid for by Bank Of America included speakers such as millionaire corporate antilabor union lobbyist, Rick Berman, laying out post-2008 election plans and political strategy for the 2010 elections hoping to frighten potential senate candidates who oppose his antiunion agenda. Also included was a hysterical message by former Home Depot CEO Bernie Marcus who claimed that those senator who don't support an antilabor union agenda, "should be shot, should be thrown out of their(expletive) jobs".

If anything, the conference hosted by Bank Of America was largely just a partisan Republican and antilabor union political event, possibly even funded by the taxpayer's $25 billion dollars in federal bailout funds.

What is also shocking about this Bank Of America conference is that Bank Of America manages the credit cards for a progressive umbrella organization, Working Assets, in which card users generate donations for a wide range of progressive organizations each time they use this credit card. Apparently the politics at the corporate offices of Bank Of America are far out of sync with some of the credit cards that they manage.