Countrywide executive was let off the hook

Recent news concerning Countrywide has not been good. How could it be otherwise? Poor decisions by incredibly well paid and selfserving executives overseen by a board with serious vision problems have resulted in Countrywide's demise.

With the company soon to be part of Bank of America, Countrywide CEO Angelo Mozilo announced that he will forego his $37 million severance package. However, some executives will be paid millions in retention bonuses.

There was no mention of the $115 million payment (per the L.A. Times) to Mozilo as part of the acquisition. Presumably those monies will be kept.

In 2007 Mozilo enjoyed $140 plus million in opportunistic stock options while the stock value plummeted for all us mortals. This on top of some salary I would guess. From 2002-2006 (again via the L.A. Times) Mozilo received hundreds of millions of dollars in total compensation.

Was someone so clever with his own financial opportunism, unaware where this would all lead? Was not the board? Were not the bonus retained executives?

So to all the 12,000 employees that lost their livelihoods in part due to Mr. Mozilo's selfserving decision process and to the thousands of other employees at B of A and Countrywide who will also lose their jobs as a result of the acquisition and to all of us who will unknowingly suffer due to the tax breaks B of A will take from Countrywide's demise and to more lost community income due to more job losses and to the country's suffering economy in general, I lift my glass and say, "To better times." Mike Duck Agoura Hills