Peter Cole said:Tom Sherman said:The system does not exist to serve the little guy - Alan Greenspan
even admitted as much."WASHINGTON — In pointed exchanges with Congressional lawmakers Friday,
three prominent financial executives defended the multimillion-dollar
pay packages they received even as their companies were brought to their
knees by the spreading credit crisis.""The questioning mainly fell along party lines, with Republicans
****apologizing for bringing distinguished corporate officials****
before the panel, and Democrats questioning everything from the income
gap in America to the particular bonuses, stock sales and compensation
the executives were awarded.""Mr. Mozilo’s (Countrywide, the nation’s largest mortgage lender
)* pay drew the most scrutiny from the House committee. He has taken
home more than $410 million since becoming chief executive in 1999""Mr. O’Neal retained more than $161 million after he was ousted in
October on top of the $70 million he took home during his four-year
tenure. Merrill Lynch, meanwhile, has announced write-offs totaling more
than $10.3 billion, and its stock price has fallen sharply.""Mr. Prince collected $110 million while presiding over the evaporation
of roughly $64 billion in market value. He left Citigroup in November
with an exit package worth $68 million"From August 1997:
"*Last year, Countrywide had revenue of $11.4 billion and pretax income
of $4.3 billion. Mortgage banking contributed mightily in 2006,
generating $2.06 billion before taxes. In the last 12 months,
Countrywide financed almost $500 billion in loans, or around $41 billion
a month. It financed 177,000 to 240,000 loans a month during the last 12
months.""As of June 30, almost one in four subprime loans that Countrywide
services was delinquent, up from 15 percent in the same period last
year, according to company filings. Almost 10 percent were delinquent by
90 days or more,""When borrowers tried to reduce their mortgage debt, Countrywide cashed
in: prepayment penalties generated significant revenue for the company —
$268 million last year, up from $212 million in 2005. When borrowers had
difficulty making payments, Countrywide cashed in again: late charges
produced even more in 2006 — some $285 million."This is laissez-faire, deregulated capitalism at work. Banking is just
one sector where the crooks are pilfering the country, energy markets
are even worse (Exxon made $40B profit, still won't cough it up for the
Valdez). When are people going to wake up and throw these bums
(conservatives) out for good?
Maybe when the mass media stops glorifying corporate parasites as some
sort of overachieving heroes? Oh wait, guess who owns the mass media?
--
Tom Sherman - Holstein-Friesland Bovinia
The weather is here, wish you were beautiful