Allison, who was in charge of Merrill’s business with big institutions, including Long-Term, finally took J.M. aside, suggesting ironically that it might be nice for. Merrill to make a little money on its trades, too. Like others who dealt with Long-Term, Allison felt that the partners analyzed every deal in terms of the profit and loss on discrete trades rather than in terms of the overall relationship. And he said as much to Meriwether.