WHAT WERE THEY THINKING?

Starting last month a large number of Merrill Lynch investment clients began receiving their monthly statements under the BlackRock name. This is the result of a merger between the two companies which has created one of the world's largest financial firms with nearly $1 trillion in assets under management. All applicable funds invested with Merrill Lynch continue to maintain the same brokerage relationship as before, i.e. they accept your money and invest it however their crack team of analysts see fit, all the while assessing you various fees, commissions and surcharges regardless of your portfolio's performance.

BlackRock -- what kind of moniker is that??? Was "DumbAss" not available???


Perhaps the new name isn't as ill-advised as I initially thought. Maybe Merrill Lynch simply has a unaccountably unblushing sense of humor. After all, stocks may rise and stocks may fall, but the way the system works there's never a bad day at BlackRock...

By the way, whatever happened to Pierce, Fenner and that wily Smith dude?