|
Congress Sets Up ex-Countrywide CEO |
|
|
Friday, 07 March 2008 |
I've been watching the House Oversight Committee hearings regarding executive pay scales and benefits. Waxman puts Mozilo on the defensive - big time - after calculated questions pit Citi and Merril Lynch against Countrywide.
Here's what's going on. The Democrats have set up a high profile hearing with executives from Citi Group, Merril Lynch, and Countrywide. Everyone was allowed to give a little opening exposition explaining their positions. The Citi and Merril representatives have been comfortable and confident, and quite frankly until just now they were making the Congressional represenatives look amatuerish. But the committee chair, goofy Mr. Waxman of "Harassing Roger Clemens" fame, just pulled off a slick move. He asked each one to describe their compensation packages, and both Citi and Merril described how each executive must hold a certain amount of the stocks and options made available to them as payment. Then they asked the ex-CEO of CountryWide about his sales during a company stock buy-back.
Then - this is the great part - they asked the Merril and Citi guys if that type of sale would be allowed under their executive packages.
Immediately, Waxman had turned the executives against ex-CountryWide CEO Mozilo.
Not only did he re-inforce the public image of CountryWide as a villain, they're pushing a marketing campaign to boost confidence in Citi and Merril Lynch. Mozilo gets thrown under the bus, investor confidence in Citi Group and Merril go up, and Congress gets to look effective for a day. I gotta give credit where its due, Waxman was able to catch some of the top business leaders in the country off guard and turn them against each other for his own political purpose.
|
|
Last Updated ( Wednesday, 09 April 2008 )
|
