Tech & Biz

Canned Merrill Lynch CEO John Thain's spending spree included ...

by Barbara Mathieson | January 24, 2009 at 01:05 pm

284 views | 12 Recommendations | 3 comments

By CAITLIN MILLAT and LARRY McSHANE
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

Saturday, January 24th 2009, 4:00 AM

Matthews/AP John Thain

There's something a little trashy about a $1,200 wastebasket.

For Merrill Lynch CEO John Thain, an outrageously expensive trash can — which was part of a $1 million office decorating spree — got him canned by his new bosses at Bank of America.

For East Side antique store assistant Maxim Makushim, tossing some trash into a pricey parchment wastebasket Friday was just good, dirty fun.

At my last job I just had a recycling bin in my office. I didn't produce enough trash for a cheap trash can.

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djsblack

at 13:19 on January 24th, 2009

Not only is the majority of the original 850 Billion in TARP money unaccounted for, most of it went to accrued Wall Street Bonuses, and to top it off--it never loosened the credit markets or removed the toxic Mortgage Backed Securities, which is the Godzilla of Congress' worst bills ever passed.

Wait, though, Obama has worse in wait.

Ajlouny

at 14:22 on January 24th, 2009

I've had jobs where my trash can was an empty cardboard box. $1,200 is a bit excessive, guess he wasn't thinking too wisely.

Montoya (not verified)

at 14:39 on January 25th, 2009

A million dollar office decorating spree is just plain stupid. He has no right spending that kind of money, and if I am right, probably no his money either.