Fussing about whether U.S. Sen. Chris Dodd’s financial reform legislation contains an independent Consumer Financial Protection Agency is like worrying about whether you’ll lose your tool shed as a conflagration consumes your home. Preserving the economy requires limiting, regulating and exposing derivative trading. That’s because derivatives – those credit default swaps – took down Wall Street — not consumer loans.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and then-Treasury Department chief Henry Paulson pressured Bank of America Corp. to not discuss its increasingly troubled plan to buy Merrill Lynch & Co. — a deal that later triggered a government bailout of BofA — according to testimony by Kenneth Lewis, the bank’s chief executive.

President Obama is expected to tap Fannie Mae Chief Executive Herb Allison to head the government’s $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program. Mr. Allison is the former chairman of investment company TIAA-CREF and was a Merrill Lynch executive for years. In September, he agreed to run Fannie Mae after the U.S. took over the mortgage giant and its sister firm, Freddie Mac.

Southern politicians have been among the most vocal opponents of government spending in the financial crisis. But seven Southern states received at least $100 million each thanks to taxpayer bailout money passed through insurance giant AIG.

New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo has issued subpoenas to several top Merrill Lynch executives who were each paid more than $10 million in cash and stock last year, according to people familiar with the situation. The executives whose testimony is being sought include Andrea Orcel, the top investment banker at Merrill, global sales and trading chief Thomas Montag, and Peter Kraus, Merrill’s former head of strategy.

In a Daily Beast/CNBC exclusive, Charlie Gasparino reveals how Merrill Lynch’s CEO spent over $1 million to redecorate his office last year—even as the firm faced a financial crisis.[...]

In early 2008, just as Merrill Lynch CEO John Thain was preparing to slash expenses, cut thousands of jobs and exit businesses to fix the ailing securities firm, he was also spending company money on himself, senior people at the firm say.

The government’s bailout of Bank of America gives BoA everything and gets nothing but debt in return.

John Thain Spars With Board Over Bonus at Merrill