You really have to wonder at either the amazing patience of the American people or the amazing dullness that has overwhelmed their sense of moral indignation.
In the past 24 hours we learn that Bank of America (already the lapdog of the Saudis) has “agreed” to purchase Countrywide Financial Corp for a meager $4 billion. Uh huh...
Wait for it...
Today we learn that Angelo Mozilo, the CEO of Countrywide is looking at a meager $115 million in severance related compensation if the sale goes through.
He must be distraught.
Distraught, because back in the day ('05 & '06) he made a total of $280 million in stock option gains. For those of you still too stunned to do the math that will be a total of $395 million in the past 2+ years.
Doing a bit more math we can view this (if you still have the stomach) from another more human angle. Many of these sub-primes (ARMs) hit folks with an additional (approx) $500 per month.
No doubt Mozilo is heartbroken over this mess. So he probably would have no issue with handing over this $395,000,000 to “help out” his customers. Why, with his “perfectly legal” ill-gotten booty he would be able to SAVE 65,833 failing mortgages this year! I can hear the scratch of Mozilo's pen on the check right now!
The question comes back to this though: how much longer will American patience last? When you have 50 million American's without health insurance and millions more under-insured while DOCTOR William McGuire of United Health takes a $1,600,000,000 payday... Or one of the poster boys of all that is wrong with Congress: Billy Tauzin, who, the moment the Medicare Modernization Act was passed, ran SO FAST to become, in December 2004 the head of PhRMA (Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America) for a scant $2,000,000 per year, that his toupee flew off. No doubt he felt bad over his part in passing one of the biggest rip-offs of the American people in history.
Article comments
1 - Baritone
Marlowe,
I suppose what you wrote above could be considered a "rant." But, overall, it's a good one. Economic conservatives will pretty much always jump to the defense of those obscene payouts to CEOs in the notion that they "earn" their money. Do they? Does a man who oversees the ruination of the largest mortgage lender in the country "earn" a $115 million severence? Can it be said that anyone "earns" hundreds of millions of dollars a year? Are the skill sets of the average corporate CEO so rare and specialized that they justify that level of recompence? No. If a person earns three hundred million in one year, figuring it on a 40 hour week for 52 weeks (no vacation, sorry) that comes down to $144230 per hour or roughly 7200 times the pay an hourly worker being paid at $20 per hour earns. Somebody making over $140000 per hour should be able to heal the sick, resurrect the dead, walk on water and lift us all off to heaven for eternity, not just fanagle quarterly earnings figures to appear that their company is actually earning a profit.
Others will defend such salaries and benefits as, when all is said and done, just a drop in the bucket compared to the big picture of any large corporation's revenue. It remains, however, a very difficult pill to swallow for the low end workers in most large corporations who make a relative pittance compared to the bigwigs. We all breathe the same air, we all put our Birkenstocks on one foot at a time. An individual's time, effort, productivity, artistry, creativity count for very little in this country. This country produces less in material goods and services with a larger portion of our total revenue earned through investments. We are a nation of investors.
I also feel that many who stand in defense of these huge yearly salaries do so in the (largely vain) hope that they will one day be in a position to make those big bucks. They don't want anyone coming along and gumming up the works in the way of their dream of future riches.
As to the residential mortgage mess, I don't even want to get started here on that issue. Suffice to say that it is a load of crap emanating from corporate greed which overwhelmed due diligence and common sense. Long standing procedures and rules of conduct were thrown out the window in the race to make big money over a short term. It blew up in their faces and now, the lenders are looking for scapegoats - dishonest borrowers, appraisers on the take, etc. The mortgage industry brought this upon themselves. But we will ultimately pay the price while their various CEOs skip off to the Caymens, their pockets bursting with cash. God bless America!
Baritone
2 - P.Marlowe
Baritone... I'm shocked, SHOCKED to discover us in agreement! This hasn't happened since the Universe was very young and you and I were left to decide what became known down here as Planck's Constant. Sure we bitched about it for a few nano-seconds but then settled on 6.626 068 96 -- 10−34 J·s, (I thought it should be ...97 but then math was never my strong suite).
Your points are spot on. Thanks for the contribution!
Marlowe
3 - Baritone
Just remember, I'm NOT Baronius.
B-tone
4 - P.Marlowe
Oh, if it had been Baronius commenting the page would be on fire!!
Thanks again bro...
Marlowe
5 - Baronius
Grr grr grrrrrrrr! Mean things!
6 - P.Marlowe
Damn it Baronius! You know how many day of therapy I'll have to go through now just to get over your mean-spirited remark!!
Now... Where are my politically correct tissues made out of recycled articles about Abby Hoffman?
Marlowe
7 - Doug Hunter
There is a special skillset worth that much. It's having the right network of other obscenely wealthy powerful people who can hand you the government payouts, the big corporate contracts, etc.
It's the buddy system. That's why big time educations at prep schools and the Ivy league are so important. It's not that you actually learn facts on the page that are any different from any other institution but the opportunity to rub shoulders with wealthy families and future power brokers who can hand you overpaid jobs and overpriced contracts in the future.
FEMA's 'Brownie' was a perfect example. The guy had done nothing noteworthy his entire life. Led some little horseman's club or something. His only claim to fame was that he was Bush's buddy. Others struggled and worked their way through college learning useless knowledge like, you know, disaster planning and management, etc. Who got the job as FEMA lead?
The moral of the story is this. Get in good with the kids from rich/powerful families while your young. Period. (and please for god sake's take your free title at one of their shell corporations or something not at a critical government agency)
8 - Doug Hunter
The above is only step one by the way. After that if you do a reasonably competent stint at your pre-vetted hand me down job and make those who placed you their lots of money they might just promote you up through the ranks eventually to the point of the much hailed CEO. Keep feeding them the billions in profit and take your 9 figure windfall on your way out the door.
Key note: you can never do step two without step one. All that learning and degrees and BS is worthless (for making one obscenely wealthy) without the connections. It's a completely different career track.
9 - Baronius
Doug, Michael Brown is probably the weakest example for your point. It sure seems like he got his job based on the people he knew, but he hardly grew up with power player credentials. Wikipedia lists his degrees from the University of Central Oklahoma and Oklahoma City University law school.
10 - Doug Hunter
The 'buddy system' was what I was using Brown as an example of.
11 - Clavos
Right, and as Baronius said, how many movers and shakers did he run into in minor state schools in Oklahoma?
Kinda blows your point about prep schools and Ivy league colleges.
Besides, you're only partly right. I attended a New England prep school. Those years were by far the best quality education I received anywhere, and I attended a private grade school, a parochial school, and a public college, so I got a pretty good cross section for comparison purposes.
You are correct about the contacts one makes at a prep school.
12 - JustOneMan
gee...more jealous morons complaining about some lucky stiff making millions! maybe you assholes should rethink your career goals of pumping gas and/or working at a 7-11...
This is a capitalist country we should celebrate everytime some lucky asshole becomes a millionaire...if you dont like it move to Uganda or Venezuela!
JOM
13 - P.Marlowe
Just One What?
Well, you silver-tongued devil! You must have been the champion of your high school debate team all six years!
P. Marlowe