DISQUS

cowboyneok · 1 year ago

Very, very good point:

"When I listen to Republicans talking about people needing to toughen up and quit relying on the system, well, what about Mozilo?"

When is the mainstream propaganda media machine going to ask questions like this? CRICKETS...

TruthSerum · 1 year ago

Notice much of Mozilo's shenanigans occurred during Bill Clinton's reign in the 90's. Is there no scandal that the Clintonistas didn't get their greedy hands into? Mozilo's rip-off of Countrywide and the Clinton's Whitewater money scheme deserve much greater scrutiny. Hopefully if Obama becomes President, some of these financial scandals can be truly investigated.

DavidinPS · 1 year ago

Simple solution to this: Executive compensation, bonuses, stock options etc, for companies who are financially profitable in a given year are taxed at the normal rate. If the company does not show a profit in a given year, executive compensation is taxed at 90%. Gives the exec a BIG incentive to make the company profitable and prevents rewarding him/her if it is not.

cowboyneok · 1 year ago

I hope the next time Obama is asked about a flag lapel pin, he responds by saying people like this fine upstanding Republican, and the Republicans who rewarded him with our hard earned tax dollars, wore flag pins:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/27/world/asia/27...

VIGGOROS · 1 year ago

This is the first time in a long time that I have heard somebody indicating that the wealthy never loses. The middle class is the one who have to pay for it, and therefore I don't understand why a lot of the middle class is voting for the GOP. Oh, sorry, I forgot guns, God and gay. Yeah, that's it.

OlderAndWiser · 1 year ago

Mozilo is 70; does he have a trophy wife he'll leave everything to?

A case study of Countrywide:

http://www.aflcio.org/corporatewatch/paywatch/r...

And to think I was once fired for not doing what an unethical lawyer told me to...

LasloPratt · 1 year ago

How is it possible in this day and age to screw up so badly yet walk away so wealthy?

It's not only possible, it's the point of the whole system.

There are people in this world who, if paid a lot of money, recognize that there are sizable responsibilities to be discharged to earn that money. There are other people who, if paid a lot of money, see it not in terms of responsibility, but instead as some sort of validation of who they are. More and more of our "captains of industry "seem to fall into the latter category.

Wisconsin Liberal · 1 year ago

What floors me is that so many "low income" republicans are just fine about this. As if these scam artists actually care about THEM. And if we taxed the upper income people and got rid of their tax breaks, they would be hurt. But they have them fooled into believing the rich "have Jesus" on their side and do not cross them. I call these people "sheeple".

prochoicelib · 1 year ago

They've been brainwashed with old show's like "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous" or any show moulding on cable/satelite networks. It's only a matter of time before the lotto ticket pays off and bubba takes his rightful place in socie-teee.

jr · 1 year ago

the caste system is alive and well

Bluestocking · 1 year ago

Perhaps the biggest problem with "golden parachutes" is that in a sense, they remove incentive for CEOs to make sure their companies succeed. After all, where's their motivation to care whether the companies do well or not? Even if the company all but goes into the tank, they know that they'll still get paid. In my opinion, this will only change when companies begin writing conditions into their contracts so that the amount that the CEO gets paid depends on whether the company succeeds or fails. For every point that the stocks rise, perhaps a certain amount could be added to the package whereas for every point that it falls, a certain amount could be taken away -- and if the company tanks or goes bankrupt, the package is significantly reduced. The pro-business Republicans are also the same ones who are always pontificating about the importance of taking personal responsibility -- so shouldn't this be true at the highest levels of business as well?

prochoicelib · 1 year ago

No, no. He's da man! You inflate a companies worth no matter how fraudulently, then cash out your stock options before you slam the company into the dirt. The one's who suffer losses are chumps and suckers. He get's to tee off on the greens until he's dead.

JMOHR · 1 year ago

Do not fool yourselves. Even during the Great Depression, most of the affluent failed to suffer in any proportionate sense to those who were at the bottom of the food chain. We have totally decoupled risk, ownership and leadership. Most people and institutions have very well learned the lessons of diversifications. Mutual funds for public and private institutions as well as individual retirement accounts have done very well at spreading the loss.

Diversification through mutual funds and other devices are relatively new developments in the financial markets. During the Great Depression, even the richest had substantial amounts at personal risk. Even interlocking directorates provided mutual political control to create opportunities for fixing prices. Individuals held significant stakes in their companies and many times held leadership positions within the company.

The CEO, CFO and most other leaders in companies have substantial amounts in stock but nowhere near an ownership interest,. Indeed, many have well endowed and diversified stock and bond holdings as suggested by financial management firms hired by the employer as part of their comp package. High annual salary, golden parachute and the ability to cash in stock options without lengthy holding periods makes it easy for the CEO to gamble with a definite floor on the downside. This is why we see the mess that we have today.

mr_ed · 1 year ago

He got the money because he negotiated for it. The company thought highly enough of him that they couldn't foresee a problem of such magnitude. Shame on them. Sorry you and I haven't gotten a deal like this. If wishes were horses, beggars would ride.

Busboy · 1 year ago

Mozilo has been taking giant bites out of countrywide for a long time. Not bad for the son of a meatcutter:

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Angelo R. Mozilo (born 1938 in New York City) is the chairman of the board and chief executive officer of Countrywide Financial.
He is the son of a Bronx butcher. He received a Bachelor of Science degree from Fordham University in 1960 and holds an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Pepperdine University. He is known among other things for his unusually permanent tan, which appears to be the result of sun lamps.[citation needed]
In 1969 he and David Loeb, who had already started a mortgage lending company, founded Countrywide Credit Industries in New York. They later moved the headquarters to Calabasas, California in Los Angeles County.
Since Countrywide was listed on the NYSE in 1984, Mozilo has sold $406 million worth of its stock, mostly obtained through stock option grants. $129 million of this was realised in the 12 months ending August 2007.[1]