Nice that Countrywide's scumbag CEO Mozilo made $160,000,000 last year, and cashed in over $200,000,000 in stock options at the peak, isn't it? I'm sure the thousands of Countrywide employees given pink slips could use some of that loot.
$200 million / 2500 laid off employees = $80,000 per employee. The French cut off peoples' heads in situations like these, no?
And just think - we're just getting started. Hundreds of thousands of REIC in the end will lose their jobs during this devastation. Hundreds of thousands of people with mortgages, car payments, health bills, kids in school, etc. The human toll of the bubble.
In the end folks, this was just pure greed. Pure, evil, historic, out-of-control bubble-fueled greed. Followed by the inevitable crash and cleansing of course. The question is, who will serve the time - a la Ebbers, Skilling, Lay, Kozlowski, Scrushy, Fastow and Rigas?
Countrywide Financial Corp., the largest U.S. mortgage lender, on Tuesday said it expects to cut staff by more than 2,500 employees to help save more than $500 million as demand for home loans slumps.
The company had already reduced staffing by 847 people from July to September, ending the quarter with 55,564 employees. "Gross layoffs will exceed 2,500 employees," Sambol said.
"This cleansing that takes place as the markets pull back is always healthy in the long run, for both Countrywide and the industry," Mozilo said.
Last week, Washington Mutual, the No. 3 mortgage lender and largest savings and loan, said it has cut 9,742 jobs, or 16 percent, this year. In May the parent of Ameriquest, which lends to people with weaker credit, set plans to lay off 3,800 employees, or one-third of its workforce.
October 24, 2006
Pets.com all over again as the REIC starts laying off its people. Countrywide throws 2,500 more out the door
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I guess Country Wides advertisement regarding the consumer "nudge" of roll your HELOC, car payment, first ARM mortgage, second mortgage and all of your credit card debt into a 40 year fixed rate didn't fly.
That's OK because all those newly unemployed won't show up in the unemployment statistics, at least not for long. After all, we've got a Goldilocks economy.
what color is that dude?
Let the carnage begin............
what color is that dude?
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Tan, like leather.
Look for fraud. If there has been any wrongdoing, like fudging the applications, he could end up in jail. All of those layoffs my bring out a few disgruntled employees with some dirt on the Company.
Someone needs to "cleanse" this dirtbag from Hell.
Motto of the CEO strata of society:
I got mine, f*ck you!
Greed is just human nature, not a result of capitalism, which some people on this board seem to hate.
Ha Ha- Cleansing is part of the natural process. Like the Chinese emporers used to do after dropping a load.
It'skind like the grin you get after a good bl** jo%.
how many of those 2,500 employees bought a house in the last 2 years?
Keith I know you're anti-F-word on the comments page, but this guy deserves the label. He looks like the total bastard he is.
Is that rub on tan lotion?
how many of those 2,500 employees bought a house in the last 2 years?
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I'd bet a lot of them were drinking the Kool Aid. Kind of hard not to, being in that environment. Imagine being a bubble sitter/renter and working at one of these REIC places... You'd be mocked as the office idiot. Kind of sad, really...
yes, only the democrats should make large sums of money. Those evil business men should pay for the poor. Let's distribute his wealth.
Keith,
You're a true socialist POS. If the man makes his money, he makes his money. Why don't YOU strive to be the next CEO of a major corporation and make the loot. Then have some snot nose kid tell you to fund the poor suffering non-producing ex-employees.
Liberals just don't get it.
"This cleansing that takes place as the markets pull back is always healthy in the long run, for both Countrywide and the industry," Mozilo said.
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Wow, this guy really is an evil greedy a-hole pig. That's a pretty damn insensitive thing to say as you are sh*tcanning 2500 people.
Like, it's OK folks, you are just being cleansed, and you are the garbage being taken out. I wonder how many of the cleansees had to be escorted offsite by rent-a-cops.
This reminds me of Office Space. It's been statistically shown that there is less chance of an incident if you tell people on FRIDAY.
bubble sitter/renter and working at one of these REIC places.
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None of us would even submit a Resume'. No job security.
"...If the man makes his money, he makes his money. Why don't YOU strive to be the next CEO of a major corporation and make the loot...."
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MAKES his money? Try STEALS it from employees on the one hand and shareholders on the other. There's nothing this jerkoff does or can do that's worth $200 million in one year.
bubble sitter/renter and working at one of these REIC places.
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None of us would even submit a Resume'. No job security.
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Not that there is much job security anywhere else.
I'm all for people making lots of money on companies they founded, etc.
This hack and all other highly paid CEO hacks is the beneficiary of the corrupt corporate board system. They stack the board with their buddies who vote their CEO buddies stock options, etc. They try to outdo all the other buddy buddy boards at competing companies. To be "competitive" you know.
The SHAREHOLDERS are the ones who get screwed. It's their company and their money and this guy probably owns only a small part of the company. But shareholders have no effective means of taking over the board. It used to be illegal to even consult with other shareholders who owned above a certain % of the company.
It's a scam. The sooner this gets taken care of the better. It's a huge liberal talking point and for good reason. Everyone is for 'hard work' but 200M for one guy, in one year? WTF? He's just a greedy bastard raping a company.
If this doesn't stop the republican party will be DOA and they'll be a revolution. Wait til the downturn really starts. You'll hear cries of eat the rich.
And how did your man Obama vote on the border fence? I would guess AGAINST it.
MAKES his money? Try STEALS it from employees on the one hand and shareholders on the other. There's nothing this jerkoff does or can do that's worth $200 million in one year.
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When the SHTF nationwide, I predict this CountryWide guy will be arrested and charged with megafraud...
I am so glad you are in socialist Great Britain. You have no obvious economic education except the little taught to you by your clueless socialist masters. You are a pathetic and useless imbecile, but you know that already as your mindless blog screams from all of it's towers to the brainless internet. IDIOT. Read a book and wake up.
MAKES his money? Try STEALS it from employees on the one hand and shareholders on the other. There's nothing this jerkoff does or can do that's worth $200 million in one year.
+++++++++++++++
When the SHTF nationwide, I predict this CountryWide guy will be arrested and charged with megafraud...
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Unfortunately, what he did was probably (technically) legal. As they say, the real crime is what's LEGAL.
Of the 2,500 laid off so far I'm hoping at least half will kill themselves.
From the movie Wallstreet:
Bud Fox: How much is enough?
Gordon Gekko: It's not a question of enough, pal. It's a zero sum game, somebody wins, somebody loses. Money itself isn't lost or made, it's simply transferred from one perception to another.
My favorite quote From the movie Wallstreet:
"How many yachts can you water ski behind?"
$200,000,000.00..geez.
Is that enough zero's?
I like you Keith. You do not pull any punches. Keep going.
Jeff Skilling is in Jail:)
Jeff Skilling is in Jail:)
Jeff Skilling is in Jail:)
WHO IS NEXT?
More alarmist bullsh_t from Keith. Yeah Countrywide dumped the bottom 10% of its workers, big deal. GE has been doing it every year for decades and I don't see Keith predicting doom for that company. Get real. Well-managed companies clear out the dead wood on a regular basis.
I'm glad he got all that loot. Just as long as the peon Calis don't get any I'm happy. I hope the top 2% take all the money so all you coastal toastals can eat $hit.
From Wallstreet:
"I'm talking about liquid. Rich enough to have your own jet. Rich enough not to waste time. Fifty, a hundred million dollars, buddy. A player. Or nothing."
What impact will the loss of 2,500 jobs have? Sometimes you have to shake your head and wonder about these big business decisions.
From Wallstreet:
"I'm talking about liquid. Rich enough to have your own jet. Rich enough not to waste time. Fifty, a hundred million dollars, buddy. A player. Or nothing."
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That would be what, about $200 million today?
People who idolize guys like this only do so because they hold dear to the delusion that they, too, can be a top geezer CEO and self-made billionaire. "Wake up and read a book" - uh, yah...I suppose you'd recommend Think and Grow Rich, or Dianetics or The Art of The Deal. Just because the rest of us don't buy into your Horatio Alger myth doesn't mean we're anti-captilist per se.
p.s. - tell me one single conservative republican "idea" that does not translate into "stay offa my stack, Jack" (Pink Floyd, "Money"). Name one thing they want that will help everyday people. I didn't think you could. Liberal, doing well, and proud of it. Get a conscience, wannabe tycoon.
9,742 jobs?!?!?!
I knew WaMu was going ot get fvcked but WOW!!!!
Liberals just don't get it.
Wednesday, October 25, 2006 1:14:19 AM
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Oh they get it alright! They get FVCKED!
This will make a couple NASCAR Dad's vote BLUE!
"This cleansing that takes place as the markets pull back is always healthy in the long run, for both Countrywide and the industry," Mozilo said.
he has no soul
Unfortunately, what he did was probably (technically) legal. As they say, the real crime is what's LEGAL.
Wednesday, October 25, 2006 1:35:20 AM
A little campaign donation and they can make it legal all day!
love the scheme to drive up assessed valuations on all the homeowners to increase local non prop.13 tax collections, same old, same old, just the recapture prices must include all the broker fees and commissions, as value? above houses, guess the next rip off by these people will be the tax favored and skim job, rakeoffs of the building of affordable housings,
Mozilo looks like that pimp drug dealer who got s*cked off by Jennifer Connelly in Requiem for a Dream
whats the option or end, to be a war lord, in south america, 200,000,000 and watching tomatoes and drugs grow, and be self sufficient? nope, slave money/
When are we going to put an end to this? The robber barrons just keep on running companies into the ground, and selling ARM and interest only crap. Then, they take their golden parachutes and nothing happens to them! Where is Robspierre when we need him?
http://tampa.craigslist.org/cas/225046797.html
The problem with this guy is over compensation through stock options. However that is only a symptom of the real disease which was the cause and effect of liberal "tinkering" passed by President Clinton & his Democratic congress om '93. As with most liberal policy it sounds good on the surface and means well, but of course had the opposite effect.
Did you guys know that companies are prohibitted in deducting any salary of $1 mil or more? Well in 1993 congress passed the law, which is now part of section 162(m) of Internal Revenue Code, in response to the public uproar of compensation paid to top execs. This effectively created a boom for stock options for execs & employees (mostly execs). Plus congress exempted incentive-based pay from this law and the IRS ruled that option grants was incentive-based pay. This is why there is more excessive compensation than ever because companies can pay them for "free". Most execs compensation is over 80% stock options. Big fund companies and fellow executive stockholders rarely bitch about these options. Now if the libs didn't tinker & regulate then most of the compensation would be in the form of salary and be put on the balance sheet for everyone to see. Leave it to the government to screw it up.
The countrywide CEO is a prime example of what is wrong with the system. Pump up the stock or ride a bubble and then cash out and let some other poor sucker deal with it. Coincidence with the pets.com, you bet. That is why congress needs to abolish the law on executive compensation. It seems ass backwards, but it's the obvious truth.
The three things that made america great, could be the three thnings that bring its demise.
America's middle class
The problem isn't the law on compensation, it's that CEOs can basically name any salary, option package, etc they want.
They are the board of directors. Their underlings and cronies are the ones who 'determine' his pay package.
Then there's the ratcheting up effect with CEOs looking to other CEOs to make sure they are competitive. "That guy made 100M last year, so to be 'fair' I should make at least that much this year".
if you really want to see an end to the huge difference in pay levels between the top guy within a corporation and the "cleansed" employees, do as I've done and STOP "investing" in publicly traded companies via stock purchase altogether - just like pulling the lever against all incumbents on a ballot. re-do your 401k at work so that all your money and any matching money goes into cash or bonds and no money whatsoever goes into publicly traded stock of any type. If the nation as a whole did same and put their money where their mouths were (they won't) large corporations would not have the huge sums of cash sloshing around to pay a**holes like this guy $200m in a year while they are giving the heave ho to 2500 working stiffs. WTF, given the limited funds most of the people on this and boards like this have at their disposal, making a 5 - 6% return on your money in a year isn't going to make much of a real dollar difference than making 10 - 12% (the principle investment just isn't big enough to make that much of a difference). IMHO, the POSSIBILITY of making an additional 6 - 7% isn't anywhere close to proper compensaiton for the level of risk you take in buying a company's stock as opposed to buying one of their bonds - remember, in a corporate bankruptcy, stockholders get screwed first (and hardest) but bondholders can liquidate the mutha to get paid whatever they can make back. let your conscience be your guide!
You can never find one of these when you need it...
If you don't buy a companies' stock...well the money you use to buy it doesn't go to the company. It goes to the guy who owns the stock. Companies only get money when they do a stock issue, which is rarely. They get some money from option excercisers too.
If no one invested in companies, well...maybe the prices would go down and they'd be bought out, taken private and overpaid management fired. Maybe.
companies issue stock to raise capital just like the Fed issues paper dollars to float debt
when you ignore a company's stock and instead buy a corporate bond, you are in effect telling the company "here is my hard earned capital. I expect it back in x years with interest at y rate per year. if you don't pay, your company gets liquidated and I'm one of the first people in line to be repaid. I'm not a "shareholder", I'm your creditor. if your company begins to look shaky and might not be able to pay when due, I can sell your bond (assuming there is a buyer) and bail out on you. now, given that, we're not going to hurt each other are we?"
outrageous pay packages for the CEO and his cronies at the top would dry up considerably if that strategy were adopted by even half the suckers that routinely pump money into company stock. don't believe it? go look at the way companies were run back 30 or 40 years ago when ONLY the very wealthy and connected owned or traded stocks with any routine schedule. the easy money in stocks has been made (IMHO) for a long time to come - just look at the dividends paid back.
WTF, given the limited funds most of the people on this and boards like this have at their disposal, making a 5 - 6% return on your money in a year isn't going to make much of a real dollar difference than making 10 - 12% (the principle investment just isn't big enough to make that much of a difference). IMHO, the POSSIBILITY of making an additional 6 - 7% isn't anywhere close to proper compensaiton for the level of risk you take.
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Agreed. If you want to make an extra 5 - 6% a year, CUT BACK ON YOUR SPENDING AND SAVE AN EXTRA 5 - 6% OF YOUR INCOME. It's amazing that nobody thinks of that alternative any more....
Wamu will survive this. They have the highly profitable retail bank and credit card businesses which continues to generate revenue for them as the housing market corrects. Most of these 9000 layoffs the past year were mortgage /home loans people and technology workers getting outsourced. Their stock still pays a beautiful dividend.
I see them doing the right things now to protect themselves as the housing market continues to correct into 2007.
From that perspective, wamu will survive for awhile, but probably eventually get bought out by someone like Citi or Jp Morgan within 3 years. Then the wamu employees are screwed as the buyer fires 50% or more of them within 6 months and closes the corporate HQ in Seattle.
But countrywide. Now thats a company thats truely F@cked. Completely undiversified. Almost all their business is mortgage and mortgage backed securities.
They are going to get hammered in 2007.
Obviously 200 million buys you lots of fake tan creme.
I think what Mozilo was saying about housing already "having a hard landing" is that the people who predicted a soft landing are already wrong. I dont' think he was trying to call the bottom or say that the worst was over.
Now I don't happen to agree with him but this guy has forgotten more about the housing and mortgage biz than most of us know. From what I can see, he's a straight shooter, who calls them as he sees them. He was discrediting the soft landing scenario months ago.
Would you blame a drug dealer for supplying narcotics to kids? So why blame Mozilo for feeding a homeowners' addiction to borrowed money?
And why all the mockery about his color? I happen to know he has the same disease as Michael Jackson. Only in Caucasions, they turn black.
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