Countywide CEO Angelo Mozilo thinks his company being treated unfairly by the media according to a article in BusinessWeek. At the Countrywide annual shareholders meeting, Mr. Mozilo said:
“Despite widespread and often unfounded headlines of the past year, Countrywide has made a positive impact on the country,” he said
He went on to say that Countrywide made over 22 million loans and had saved 143,000 people from foreclosure by restructuring their troubled mortgages.
“I’m very proud of our accomplishments,” Mozilo said. “We’ve made the dream of home ownership available to everyone regardless of ethnicity. We’ve helped millions of people in good times and bad.”
Not every shareholder got to speak at the meeting, including Scott Adams, “a regional coordinator with the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees’s pension fund, came prepared with a speech he did not get to read.”
Adams scoffed at Mozilo’s claim that Countrywide’s efforts had kept 143,000 troubled borrowers in their homes. “He said they made 22 million loans; 143,000 is not a whole lot,” he said.
At Countrywide’s End, an Emotional CEO [BusinessWeek]
(AP Photo/Ric Francis, file)
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Wow. Just wow. Talk about a Crowning Momement of Stupid.
@Bladefist: Beat me to it. Inflation can cause a recession or a slow in growth but they aren’t the same.
What we have is inflation and a devalued dollar. The good news is that economies go in cycles and I’m confident we’ll eventually have an upturn in spite of idiots like Countrywide, The Federal Reserve et. all.
@dirk1965: People simply living beyond their means to keep up with the Jones.
Reminds me of this interesting thing I read today. [www.sciencedaily.com]
I know for one I became a lot happier when I stopped comparing myself to others.
@MayorBee:
Outstanding.
@battra92: The problem is, young people, who forget the world started before they were born, think this is the end. I am young as well, and it sometimes feels like this to me also, but everything I hear, is the economy goes in cycles. It was worse when Jimmy Carter was prez, it was even worse during the depression. Not only do we bounce back, but we usually bounce back even better then we were before.
With oil contracts in iraq, and the possibility of offshore drilling, getting this mortgage crisis cleaned up, and bringing the prime rate back, we’ll be kickin’ it old school. I’m remaining positive.
And the true definition of a recession is when your neighbor is hurting. A depression is when you are hurting. I’m going to guess that 99% of the people who scream recession, are doing just fine.
Giving someone a loan who can’t afford it and has not been screened has nothing to do with the American Dream. Anyway,
he looks tan, rested, and ready to become ‘queen of the prom’ at the local penitentiary. And hey, pal, just what exactly is YOUR skin color? That word has not been invented yet.
This guy has a point. I mean, cancer has made a positive impact on the country by keeping the population down, right? Ditto murder, drunk driving, etc.
@battra92: It’s very difficult to have a recession when you are in the midst of high inflation,or dollar devaluation.
The growth of the economy is measured in dollars, which there are more of with inflation. So long as the dollar loses more value than the economy you can have a recession.
Even though Zimbabwean exports have dropped full orders of magnitude their economy is not in recession due to a 200,000% inflation rate.
Measure the growth of the US economy vs a stable investment peg such as the price of gold, oil or a bushel of wheat and you will see a different story.
It’s all semantics, most people can readily see that income has not kept pace with prices leading to a difficulty in making ends meet. We are not in bad times but, the fat times are a memory.
@Techguy1138:
“So long as the dollar loses more value than the economy you can have a recession.”
should be
So long as the dollar loses more value than the economy you can NOT have a recession.
“Countrywide has made a positive impact on the country”
Yeah, and I’m the Queen of England.
That is all.
Cheers!
@EyeHeartPie: What do you expect Countrywide to do? Dobernala already summed it up perfectly…
“…threats of prosecution and shakedowns from various interest groups about the disproportionate impact that a traditional banking policy of denying loans/mortgages to people with bad credit.
Because minorities often have disproportionately worse credit, the inability for minorities, as a group, to be able to get loans is seen as racial discrimination by the banks (when in reality, they’re just checking credit on a non-racial basis).
The threats have forced banks to adjust their standards to allow more people to qualify for loans that they would not ordinarily qualify for to placate the government and interest groups.”
Thank you Dobernala… you explained it perfectly.
The skin? Reminds me of those pigs ear things you give dogs.
Just saying.
Just wondering: Can you use the PedEgg on your face?
Angelo even looks the part of a mafia don.
The mortgage holders are just as guilty as this slimebag.
Sorry, it is true.
Everybody is greedy. “I want” is a common theme.
How many people got into a house that was just too much house for their financial situation? How many people where boarderline and should never have been approved?
The mortgage companies made these actions possible. But nobody put a gun the people’s head and said “you must buy this house”.
We really shouldn’t be so hard on this guy. He’s obviously a burn victim.
@MayorBee: You win!!
What do you expect Countrywide to do?
@Ckroush: We expect them to only give loans to people who can afford them. We expect them to not give a bigger loan than is necessary/affordable. We expect them not to give subprime loans to people with prime credit.
Of course, ‘expect’ isn’t the right word. This is what they should have done.