Bill Clinton Says Obama Should Temporarily Extend Bush Tax Cuts For All, Exclude Rich Later

During an interview on on CNBC’s “Closing Bell With Maria Bartiromo” former President Bill Clinton said that the Bush tax cuts, set to expire in January, should be temporarily extended, including for the wealthiest Americans, to give lawmakers time to reach a deal on long-term tax plan that would later exclude the rich.

Clinton’s comments are in stark contrast to President Obama, who claims he is opposed to renewing the tax cuts for people earning more than $250,000 a year. Obama already renewed the cuts roughly a year and a half ago as part of a deal with Republicans to preserve federal emergency unemployment benefits but the President and Democrats agreed to a new deal with Republicans this year that slashed the amount of weeks an individual could claim benefits.

Democrats say they want to extend the rates for all but the richest Americans, while Republicans say the wealthy should be included as well.

Mother Arrested at Her Daughter’s Graduation for Cheering Loudly

A South Carolina mother says she was humiliated when she was taken away in handcuffs during her daughter’s high school graduation in Florence, S.C., for cheering too loudly.

Police say Shannon Cooper’s shouting amounted to disorderly conduct.

“I am still living in shock,” Cooper told msnbc.com. “It all seems like a bad dream, a nightmare of what was to be one of the happiest days of our lives. I cheered for my baby and I got the cuffs.”

Cooper said she was whooping it up when her 18-year-old daughter, Christin Iesha Cooper, walked across the stage to get her diploma from South Florence High School on June 2.

“I am a proud mom,” said Cooper “And as soon as they said ‘Christin’ I stood up, started praising, woohooing and cheering it up for my baby. I was like ‘Go baby! You did it’.”

Florence Police Chief Anson Shells said people attending the ceremony were warned that if they did not behave during commencement ceremonies they would be escorted out.

“The school district made an announcement and sent out letters to all of the parents for everyone to be as orderly as they can during the ceremony and so on and so forth,” Shells told msnbc.com.  “That was the rule.”

Cooper said police arrested her as she made her way down the stairs and onto the auditorium’s main floor and walked her across the Florence Civic Center, where the ceremony was held, in full view of everyone in attendance.

“The police officer pointed his finger at me and said ‘Stop right here. The lady right there in white, she’s going to jail’,” Cooper said. “The whole time I was thinking in my mind ‘Are you all serious? You for real?’ I didn’t say anything. I was shocked.”

Cooper was charged with disorderly conduct and booked in Florence County Detention Center, where she stayed for several hours until posting a $225 bond, according to WPDE-TV, an ABC affiliate in Myrtle Beach, S.C.  “I didn’t do any more than the others did. Which I feel like no one should have gone to jail,” she said.

Cooper’s daughter told WPDE-TV she didn’t know what had happened to her mom until her friends filled her in. ”They’re locking your momma up for cheering — and I was like that isn’t right because other people were cheering and they didn’t lock them up,” she said.

Shells told msnbc.com two others were arrested during the commencement service.

“They were disruptive enough that officers felt they had to be removed and that they had violated the law,” Shells said.

Shells said 30 officers were stationed at the convention center that evening to monitor a crowd of 9,000 people.

“According to the report, she was disruptive during the ceremony and ceremonies are considered solemn occasions,” Shells said. “Everybody wants to hear their child’s name called and everyone was asked to be respectful and to be quiet.”

Cooper said the family celebrated her daughter’s special day on Sunday with a barbecue. She said she wants to put the day behind her, but finds it difficult at the moment.

Said Cooper: “Disorderly conduct? What’s the disorderly conduct? How was I so disorderly you know any different from just a happy parent? It was a lot of hard work to get my baby to this point, you know? I wanted to celebrate. I wanted to shout out my joy.”

Bank Of America Accused Of Hiding Merrill Lynch Losses From Shareholders Before Acquisition

Papers filed in private shareholder litigation accuse top executives at Bank of America Corp of misleading holders of shares and call options about mounting losses and bonus pay outs  just prior to a 2008 vote on its purchase of Merrill Lynch & Co.

The Bank and former Chief Executive Kenneth Lewis said in their own court papers that they should not be liable to shareholders claiming to have lacked information they needed to vote on the $50 billion merger.

Lewis also said the bank’s law firm and chief financial officer advised him that no disclosure was necessary.

“In all cases of securities fraud, the fight is always about who knew what, when,” said Hillary Sale, a law and business professor at Washington University in St. Louis School of Law. “This deposition shows that before the actual shareholder vote, there was knowledge that the numbers were different. Call it large, call it substantial, but it is likely material.”

Andrew Ceresney, a lawyer for Lewis, declined to comment. Court papers said his client relied on the law firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz as to how much to disclose.

The bank in court papers said shareholders failed to show damages as a result of “any alleged impairment to voting rights.” It also said that to the extent it overpaid for Merrill, it is Bank of America that can assert that claim.

Steven Singer, a lawyer for the shareholders, declined to comment.

Merrill’s fourth-quarter loss at the time of the vote was expected to be $9 billion, according to court papers, and ultimately reached $15.84 billion.

The losses caused Bank of America to get a second, $20 billion taxpayer bailout, as their share price dropped 93 percent. The share price remains close to 80 percent below its level prior to the merger.

When Bank of America agreed to buy Merrill on Sept. 15, 2008, the same day Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc went bankrupt, it expected the purchase would dilute earnings by 3 percent in 2009, and be “break even” or slightly better in 2010.

According to court papers, Lewis echoed this forecast at the Dec. 5 shareholder vote. But Lewis testified in the deposition that by this time, the bank believed that the merger would be 13.1 percent dilutive in 2009 and 2.8 percent in 2010.

“That’s a significant change in the dilution and accretion analysis; you would agree with that?” he was asked.

“Yes,” Lewis responded.

The bank’s former treasurer Jeffrey Brown testified that Merrill’s shrinking of its balance sheet, under Bank of America’s orders, could reduce the combined companies’ annual earnings power by $1 billion before taxes, court papers show.

Lewis appeared to resist the thought that the projected $9 billion Merrill loss had a “material” impact on that company’s capital and tangible common equity, which had been $26 billion.

“I would say — I mean, there was an effect,” Lewis said.

“You would agree with me that is a substantial amount?”

“I would say that’s a large amount, yes.”

In a filing, Lewis maintained that he knew of “no red flags” for him to reject the “considered judgment” of the lawyers about disclosing Merrill’s fourth-quarter performance.

Shareholders, however, said Lewis’ sworn statements “leave no genuine dispute” that his statement at the Dec. 5 meeting regarding dilution was “materially false” at the time.

“Reliance on a lawyer’s advice is an interesting argument,” Sale said. “It could give you a defense that you did not intend to mislead, and therefore did not commit fraud. That causes a problem for Wachtell. It could admit it gave that advice, but that raises a specter of malpractice. It’s pretty messy.”

Merrill has more recently aided Bank of America’s results, offsetting losses from mortgages and other litigation.

In 2010, U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff approved the bank’s $150 million settlement over Merrill with the Securities and Exchange Commission, which included no admission of wrongdoing.

Bank of America, Lewis and Price also face a civil fraud lawsuit by New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, under a state law that does not require proof of intent. Schneiderman’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Lewis retired at the end of 2009 and was replaced by Brian Moynihan, who remains chief executive.

Bank of America shares traded Monday afternoon down 14 cents at $6.88. They traded at $33.74 when the merger was announced.