There are more questions about Bank of America’s ( BAC ) planned purchase of Countrywide ( CFC ). A Bank of America regulatory filing this week notes that the big bank hasn’t decided whether to guarantee Countrywide debt after BofA’s $4 billion takeover of Countrywide, due to be completed later this year. The wording of the filing has some observers wondering if Bank of America chief Kenneth Lewis “may be playing chicken with all of us,” reasoning that worries of a Countrywide default could push the price of its bonds lower, allowing Bank of America to buy them at a discount rather than redeeming at par. If Bank of America were to let the Countrywide debt go into default, it could “adversely affect the entire market for bank debt. I say the heck with Countrywide financial, and let Bank of America buy them out, and have the feds help out, but on one condition and that is if Bank of America cant meet its loan obligations, the feds come in and swallow up the amount needed to pay back. Fakahany airbus airlines airports albert lord alcatel-lucent allergan alliance data alphabet soup amazon ambac americredit amerigroup ameritrade amex andrea jung angelo mozilo ann taylor antitrust regulation aol apple armageddon armor assured guaranty at&t audible avon backdating bailout bailouts bain capital balance sheet fortress bald guys balsillie bank buyouts bank earnings bank of america bankers banking bankruptcy banks barnes & noble Barry Diller battered by mass defection bea bear hugs bear markets bear stearns bear stearns-jpmorgan beards benazir bhutto berkshire Berkshire Hathaway bermuda Best Buy bid rigging big pharma bill ackman bill gross biogen biotech blackberry blackrock blackstone blockbuster boeing bofa Bond insurers bonuses books on tape botox british air broken buyouts broken lbos bubbles buffett builders bunge buyback buybacks buyouts cable calpers canadians capital capital one capital raising car sales cards carl icahn carly fiorina carlyle carlyle capital catastrophe caterpillar cautious attitude cdos ceo change ceo changes ceo pay ceo pay givebacks ceo search ceo selling ceos cereal cfius chafing charity chemicals chevron children’s place china chip stocks chipotle chips choicepoint cholesterol cibc ciena cifg cioffi Circuit City cisco citadel Citi clear channel clearwire cleveland clinton cnet coffee coke comcast comeback conflicts consumer consumer slowdown consumer spending corporate integrity agreements costco Countrywide countrywide-bofa credit crunch credit scoring credit suisse crocs currency dawn of the connected era deere defaults deflation dell delphi delta-northwest diets digital movies diller disappointed disclosure disney dividend dividend cuts dividends djia dollar dow chemical downgrade downgrades drug stores dubai dumbfounded dvds e*trade earnings earnings miss ebay ed lampert ed zander elan emc encysive energy enhanced cash execs executive pay executive shuffling exxon eyecare ezra dabah fair isaac falling stock fannie Fannie Mae fannie-freddie farm boom fda fear fed FedEx felix salmon fgic fidelity financial stocks finnish corporations firings first marblehead fitch flopping folgers food force protection foreclosures former water companies foster wheeler foxes and henhouses frankenfoods fred hassan freddie Freddie Mac free fall garmin gary dunton ge gemstar genentech general dynamics general electric genzyme getting grilled getty images glasnost gm going awol gold goldman goldman sachs good luck google governments greater disruption greenlining greenspan greg brown grinch growcession H&R Block h-p harbinger harley davidson harman harold swerg hedge funds heirs apparent herein hershey hmos holiday sales home depot home equity hot stocks housing housing bust hovnanian huge government statistics humana IAC iaci icahn inflation information transparency infrastructure ingersoll-rand insider selling insider trading intel intuitive surgical ipod ipos iraq ironing metaphors isis j. read more