Countrywide’s tidal wave

Angelo Mozilo, chief executive of Countrywide Financial Corp., must have known his company was skating on thin ice more than a year ago as he began to cash out more than $140 million in shares in the company. It wasn’t as if he was late on his mortgage payment or anything.

Countrywide has fired more than 11,000 employees so far and its stock is now worth 85% less than a year ago.

The tsunami from the mortgage industry meltdown will be felt for a long time. AT&T; shut down service to more than 450,000 customers who could no longer afford to pay those bills. And that’s just one case.

David Ohman

Irvine