The intimate, fly-on-the wall tale of the decline and fall of anAmerica icon With one notable exception, the firms that make up what we know asWall Street have always been part of an inbred, insular culturethat most people only vaguely understand. The exception was MerrillLynch, a firm that revolutionized the stock market by bringing WallStreet to Main Street, setting up offices in far-flung cities andtowns long ignored by the giants of finance. With its “thunderingherd” of financial advisers, perhaps no other business, whether infinancial services or elsewhere, so epitomized the American spirit.Merrill Lynch was not only “bullish on America,” it was a bigreason why so many average Americans were able to grow wealthy byinvesting in the stock market. Merrill Lynch was an icon. Its sudden decline, collapse, andsale to Bank of America was a shock. How did it happen? Why did ithappen? And what does this story of greed, hubris, and incompetencetell us about the culture of Wall Street that continues to
