Bank of America's little white lie

Bank of America (BAC) should have taken less TARP money. In a perfect world, that is. But when Congress approved the funds and Hank Paulson sent out the checks, virtually forcing them on many banks and brokerage houses, the financial world was going to hell fast and needed some stability.

Consumers, investors, and institutional money managers believed that some banks could fail, following Lehman into the ground.