WaMu Next

With Countrywide finally being absorbed by Bank of America (not complete, still plenty of due diligence, lots of corners and closets full of bodies and bones). That process started months ago with the 'loan' (or shall we say, down payment!) B of A made to Cwide. Their CEO will walk away with at least an 8 digit package, a lot of their employees will by walked to the door with a brown bag with something smelly in it!

Next up....Washington Mutual. The lender and bank who's lending and employment practices are only outdone by their abysmal customer service is looking for a suitor. It's a short list, tainted by the same foul order and taste of the prize in the bag that many Cwide employees will walk away with.

Many of the the posters on the current mortgage crisis are correct. It comes down to greed and thinking the gravy train has no caboose. Well, there is no station for that train, just a cliff into a deep abyss that the engine has already gone over and into.

It time for an extreme makeover for the lending industry (maybe real estate and title will follow). Alvin Toffler in Future Shock predicted many of these changes, as what is always inevitable is change. Either be an agent or victim of it. Many of the financial industries decided to drink the koolaid and be a victim of it. The unfortunate part is they are taking a lot of consumers with them, having been seduced by the lure of easy money first in the stock market and then in the real estate market.

This culling out process is healthy and, if by some chance, we learn from it, the global economy will be stronger (remember, what doesn't kill you makes you stronger...but it still hurts!!). Bottom line...Be Prudent...Take Responsibility...Be Sufficiently Cynical!