Mozilo sees recession coming

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Say what you will about Countrywide CEO Angelo Mozilo -- and so many of you already have -- we like having him at the center of this story. He is a straight shooter from the old school, a reporter’s dream and a publicist’s nightmare -- and a species all but extinct from American public life.

Most CEOs and politicians today have perfected the art of ‘staying on message’ -- that is, carefully repeating a sliver of the truth, always wrapping it in layer upon layer of spin, posturing and meaningless argument.

Not Angelo. Today, when 99 and 44/100ths% of CEOs would have stayed on message and talked about the Bank of America investment, he told us the housing market still stinks, and it’s probably going to cause a recession.

From CNBC.com, on the outlook for the mortgage business: ‘This environment is certainly not getting better.’ On his continued belief the housing slump will cause a recession: ‘I still think so, I’ve been proven wrong so far,’ he said. ‘But I can’t believe when you’re having the level of delinquencies, foreclosures … that this doesn’t have a material effect on the psyche of American people and eventually on their wallet.’

Your thoughts? Insights? Comments?