Mozilo: ‘No one predicted’ current housing bust

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Today is Angelo Mozilo’s special day to talk to Congress about his paycheck and his company and his unique view of current events. His prepared remarks are here, and this is how CNN/Money is covering the hearing so far:

‘Two high-profile former Wall Street CEOs and the head of the nation’s largest home lender defended their oversized pay packages to congressional lawmakers Friday, arguing that recent reports grossly exaggerated their compensation in some instances. ‘In short, as our company did well, I did well,’ Countrywide’s Angelo Mozilo (pictured) said.’

What struck me in reading Mozillo’s prepared testimony was not the stuff about compensation, but his account of the current housing mess: ‘The problem that we face today was unanticipated and is much more severe than any cycle in the past. ... It bears noting that no one predicted the severity and force of the housing downturn that followed.’

Wow. Angelo. What color is the sky in your world? On the planet where I live (nice blue sky today), all manner of people have been predicting a housing crash for years. Lots of them even wrote down their predictions on things called blogs. Have you ever heard of an economist in L.A. named Christopher Thornberg? Books like ‘Sell Now! The End of the Housing Bubble’? Blogs like Patrick.net?

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Photo Credit: Associated Press