Boards and Governance

I don't know the gentleman who wrote the editorial in the WSJ today on boards and our business schools, but I might become a fan.

"By failing to teach the principles of corporate governance, our business schools have failed our students. And by not internalizing sound principles of governance and accountability, B-school graduates have matured into executives and investment bankers who have failed American workers and retirees who have witnessed their jobs and savings vanish."

Ken Lewis at BofA, or BofA's board may become the poster children for appropriate behavior at the CEO level and above. I have been railing about boards turning down m&a offers that clearly benefit shareholders. The Ken Lewis drama over the Merrill forced acquisition might be taking us to a whole different level.

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Futures are flattish today ahead of details on what went into the bank stress tests. Implying a causal relationship there sounds good on TV but is a bunch of baloney. How and on what terms the banks were tested doesn't matter for our overall market any more. No big banks will be allowed to fail from here. The worst will get more very dilutive capital so avoid those stocks obviously. Other than that, I am offically granting everyone permission to play golf this afternoon.