Charlotte: an old meeting with Bank of America
I finally got out of the hotel and walked around the street of Charlotte a little. Still sick, just less sick than this morning.
The sun was out. The weather was perfect. The blossom pink on the trees and everything so clean.
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Last time I was here was I think in 2002 and it was a brief visit. I met with the investor relations departments of Duke Energy, First Union (!) and Bank of America. It was the BofA visit that defined the trip.
I spent half an hour trying to tease out what an ugly credit cycle looked like for them and in exasperation they gave up. They said (and you can probably work out the date by the numbers which seem so small now)...
We have 36 billion dollars in revenue. 18 billion in costs and 4 billion in credit costs. Surely it is more important to watch where the 36 and the 18 go than to focus on the 4.
The world in Charlotte is so clean.
John