Countrywide Rides Again

 Or How You Can Massively Destroy Wealth and Profit Twice

Now anyone who knows me for long realizes that I am a bit of a strange creature. I believe that games ought to be played by rules that are fair to all participants. I believe the world works better when markets reward good behavior and punish those who cheat and lie to win. In short, during a long time in the entrepreneurial world of blood guts and glory I have always liked it when the good guys win.

So watching the Schmucks From Countrywide pull off a second heist on the top of their quintessentially evil success at sub prime lending incenses me. The poor desperate fool who robs banks with a gun today missed his best chance. All he needed in the gory glory days of sub prime was a job at Countrywide and his take would have been multiplied by the thousands, maybe even millions if he rose high enough in the pond scum hierarchy.

A group of formerly, evidently unindictable, malefactors from Countrywide's heyday have formed a new company. They are now posing as saviors of the government's money in a scheme called PennyMac. Whatever it does to the value of homes and loans it will not benefit the Real Estate Market. That is the market that Countrywide damaged so severely with its lending practices while enriching a lot of rotten reeking reprobates. The dog returning to its vomit is a nicer picture than the one forming here.

Some people need to be followed everywhere by a big irate guy with a large hammer. Whenever they start to move in the direction on any large concentration of cash he should lower the hammer right on their head. Eventually that would get through to them that gaming the system has a cost to everyone and they will not be allowed to profit from it.

I met just the guy. He's a big Irish fellow who just lost his home. His name isn't Clancy, but he's really pissed about the lies he was told when he was taking out his loan. His job disappeared then his wife's job was downsized. Now they have lost their home after spending all of their retirement money trying to hang onto it long enough to replace their jobs. He'd be glad to lower the boom on our behalf.

The government is too late to help them but hopefully the new Loan Adjustment program will help a lot of people like him. That is it might if we can keep the thieves at bay and their hands out of this till.

My aunt Francis used to sing a phrase from a song called Clancy Lowered The Boom. Her favorite recording of it was by Bing Crosby. In her worst times her family lost everything in the Great Depression. Their bank failed and their savings disappeared. They lost the farm and “The whole kit and caboodle,” as she used to say. They lost everything but courage, pride and their sense of humor.

That was enough to start over with and eventually Aunt Francis made a good life. I'm pretty sure my Irish acquaintance will manage that difficult feat too. He has the same strength in dealing with adversity that I have seen a lot in the people who live and work here, in the nation they made a great place to live. I wonder how many people like Francis were used as pawns in the last scheme by those “Businessmen from Countrywide,” People who do things like that gave scum its bad name.