PAUL KRUGMAN: Enron’s Second Coming?

[babylonsister]

Enron’s Second Coming?


By PAUL KRUGMAN
Published: October 1, 2007

In May 2005 NYSE Magazine featured an article titled “American Dream Builder” — a glowing profile of Angelo Mozilo, the chairman and C.E.O. of Countrywide Financial, the nation’s largest mortgage lender. The article portrayed Mr. Mozilo as a heckuva guy — a man from a humble background determined to help other people, especially members of minority groups, achieve the American dream of homeownership.

The article didn’t mention one of Mr. Mozilo’s other distinguishing characteristics: the extraordinary size of his paychecks. Last year Mr. Mozilo was paid $142 million, making him the seventh-highest-paid chief executive in America.

These days, of course, Mr. Mozilo doesn’t look like such a wonderful guy, after all. Instead, he’s starting to bring back memories of other people who used to be praised not just as great businessmen but as great human beings — people like Enron’s Ken Lay and WorldCom’s Bernie Ebbers.

So far, nobody has accused Mr. Mozilo of breaking the law. Still, what we’re learning from the housing mess is that the crisis of corporate governance, which made headlines in the early years of this decade, never went away.

At this point it appears that Mr. Mozilo achieved the rare feat of victimizing three distinct groups.

more...

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/01/opinion/01krugman.html?_r=2&hp&oref=slogin&oref=slogin

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

1. -snip-

In late 2006, even as Countrywide began using shareholders’ money to buy back its own stock at more than $40 a share — it’s now worth only $19 — Mr. Mozilo was selling. Between November 2006 and August 2007 — that is, during the months before investors fully realized the extent to which his company would be hurt by the subprime mortgage crisis — he unloaded $138 million worth of Countrywide’s stock.

[BridgeTheGap]

2. The highwaymen, the crooks, the thieves have all donned new robes:

they are now "CEOs".

[JNelson6563]

3. When I first heard this my first thought was

this smells Enron-ish. Uh-oh.

Julie

[babylonsister]

6. Good nose there! nt

[shadowknows69]

4. and what rough beast?

its hour come 'round at last, slouches its way toward Wall Street to be born

[Donkeykick]

5. Dag Gone...

CEOS are doing their best to rule my country! :wtf:

First they take good jobs overseas to save money; then, they try to (or should I say successfully?) sell houses to people that do not have those jobs to make a profit off of the housing industry.

I guess that they know that they are not going to be able to reinvest their profits back in to domestic industry, huh. :eyes: