Steven Castello, a maintenance worker in Salinas, Calif., says he believes in accountability.
After running up thousands of dollars in debt on nine credit cards, he didn't file bankruptcy. He didn't try to dodge his obligations. Instead, Castello, 57, went to a credit counseling service and, patiently, painfully, paid his bills.
"This was my foolish mistake," he told me. "I had to take responsibility."
Compare Castello's situation with that of Angelo Mozilo, the well-tanned chief exec of mortgage lender Countrywide Financial Corp.
After driving his company to the brink of bankruptcy (or so the rumor mill had it last week), Mozilo now stands to make as much as $115 million in severance-related compensation if an acquisition of Countrywide by Bank of America goes through, which it almost certainly will.
Accountability? We should all be so lucky.
"What's particularly egregious is that he's walking away with millions of dollars as people are being forced out of their homes because they can't make their mortgage payments," said Dan Pedrotty, director of the AFL-CIO's office of investment.
Mozilo, 69, made enormous amounts of money running Countrywide during the boom times. He pocketed $160 million in 2005 and $120 million in 2006, mostly in stock option gains.
Countrywide and other financial firms have faced tougher sledding in recent months with the bottom falling out of the mortgage market amid a tightening of credit for higher-risk loans.
In August, Countrywide was forced to draw down its entire $11.5-billion credit line. Weeks later, the company said it would hand pink slips to as many as 12,000 workers, or about 20% of its workforce.
Countrywide's stock lost 79% of its value last year.
Amid rumors of a possible bankruptcy filing, Mozilo and Countrywide finally turned to BofA to rescue their behinds from the fire. The bank, which had already invested $2 billion in the company, will pony up an additional $4 billion in stock to become the nation's top mortgage lender.
So what sort of consequences will Mozilo face for his managerial failure?
Aside from nearly $88 million in cash, he'll have to make do with not one but two pensions, accelerated payment of stock options, free rides on the company jet and his country club bills being paid until 2011.
Man, that has to sting.
