Congress has cut federal funding for public media — a $3.4 million loss for LAist. We count on readers like you to protect our nonprofit newsroom. Become a monthly member and sustain local journalism.
This is an archival story that predates current editorial management.
This archival content was written, edited, and published prior to LAist's acquisition by its current owner, Southern California Public Radio ("SCPR"). Content, such as language choice and subject matter, in archival articles therefore may not align with SCPR's current editorial standards. To learn more about those standards and why we make this distinction, please click here.
Pennies From Heaven? No, just Corporate Welfare
()
New News for those following the ongoing Countrywide trainwreck. As reported by the LA times on Saturday, despite the ongoing national economic worries, and the total meltdown of the company, Countrywide Executives are still set to recieve Big Bucks Big Bucks no Whammies:
The top two executives of beleaguered Countrywide Financial Corp. will pocket $19 million in stock next week, according to a regulatory filing. It's the start of a series of multimillion-dollar payments expected to go to the pair before and after the company's pending takeover by Bank of America Corp.
This comes fairly soon after (as blogged about here at LAist) Countrywide CEO Angelo Mozilo "magnanimously gave up millions in compensation in a cheap attempt to keep the serfs from storming the manor. At the time it looked like swell move, but as one can see, the fiscal setback for poor Angelo was only temporary:
Support for LAist comes from
The payments of stock valued at $10 million for Mozilo and $9 million for Sambol were disclosed in a regulatory filing late Thursday by Bank of America. The payments, described as "performance-based" stock rights and grants, are required by agreements the executives struck with Countrywide less than a year before the sub-prime meltdown forced the distressed Calabasas lender to sell itself, according to the filing.
Interestingly enough, those of us still gainfully employed but reduced to wage earner status have as yet not been afforded such generous compensation for performance. It's probably a safe bet that the vast majority of American workers would be rewarded for the stellar performance the Countrywide team wrought with a fancy pink slip and a denial of unemployment benefits. Fortunately, they're not the only ones annoyed by this vastly unbalanced cost/benefits scheme. Congress is apparently feeling around in its pants and discovering it might have gonads after all:
The largesse for Countrywide Chief Executive Angelo Mozilo and President David Sambol drew immediate fire from Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.), a member of the Senate Finance Committee, whose members have been debating the merits of a government bailout of consumers and mortgage lenders caught in the sub-prime meltdown. "It's perverse for Bank of America to reward the principal architects of the bad business practices that caused this housing crisis," Schumer said in a statement. "Bank of America will hopefully correct the bad practices Countrywide put in place. But enriching people who specialized in deceiving borrowers for the sake of their bottom line will not help that cause."
Photo from pingnews.com via Flikr.
As Editor-in-Chief of our newsroom, I’m extremely proud of the work our top-notch journalists are doing here at LAist. We’re doing more hard-hitting watchdog journalism than ever before — powerful reporting on the economy, elections, climate and the homelessness crisis that is making a difference in your lives. At the same time, it’s never been more difficult to maintain a paywall-free, independent news source that informs, inspires, and engages everyone.
Simply put, we cannot do this essential work without your help. Federal funding for public media has been clawed back by Congress and that means LAist has lost $3.4 million in federal funding over the next two years. So we’re asking for your help. LAist has been there for you and we’re asking you to be here for us.
We rely on donations from readers like you to stay independent, which keeps our nonprofit newsroom strong and accountable to you.
No matter where you stand on the political spectrum, press freedom is at the core of keeping our nation free and fair. And as the landscape of free press changes, LAist will remain a voice you know and trust, but the amount of reader support we receive will help determine how strong of a newsroom we are going forward to cover the important news from our community.
Please take action today to support your trusted source for local news with a donation that makes sense for your budget.
Thank you for your generous support and believing in independent news.
Chip in now to fund your local journalism
(
LAist
)
Trending on LAist
-
With less to prove than LA, the city is becoming a center of impressive culinary creativity. -
Nearly 470 sections of guardrailing were stolen in the last fiscal year in L.A. and Ventura counties.
-
Monarch butterflies are on a path to extinction, but there is a way to support them — and maybe see them in your own yard — by planting milkweed.
-
With California voters facing a decision on redistricting this November, Surf City is poised to join the brewing battle over Congressional voting districts.
-
The drug dealer, the last of five defendants to plead guilty to federal charges linked to the 'Friends' actor’s death, will face a maximum sentence of 65 years in prison.
-
The weather’s been a little different lately, with humidity, isolated rain and wind gusts throughout much of Southern California. What’s causing the late-summer bout of gray?
Best of LAist