WaMu Mortgage? Why isn't Kerry Killinger in Prison?

[puck]

At Washington Mutual, a relentless urge to approve any loan

By Peter S. Goodman and Gretchen Morgenson

Sunday, December 28, 2008

SAN DIEGO: "We hope to do to this industry what Wal-Mart did to theirs, Starbucks did to theirs, Costco did to theirs and Lowe's-Home Depot did to their industry. And I think if we've done our job, five years from now you're not going to call us a bank."

Please cut and paste the following link to view the article

http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/12/28/business/wamu.php

[someonesomewhere]

"We hope to do to this industry what Wal-Mart did to theirs, Starbucks did to theirs, Costco did to theirs and Lowe's-Home Depot did to their industry. And I think if we've done our job, five years from now you're not going to call us a bank."

- Kerry Killinger, chief executive of Washington Mutual, 2003

Such a claim does not bode well for the future of Wal-Mart, Starbucks, Costco, Lowes and Home Depot.

[jq26]

Why isn't he in prison? Because we don't assess criminal libaility for poor business decisions. If that were the case, then everyone would be in jail. Surely you've made poor business decisions in your lifetime as I have too. And borrowers that played the game with liar loans (many) also got crushed- as they should.

Shareholders were effectively wiped out. Bondholders were crushed. These are investments with all of the risk of investment included.

I shorted the crap out of WaMu in 2006 when their 10-Qs started to show accrued but clearly uncollectible interest on neg am loans being booked as profit. I gave up after a few months when shareholders ignored this and pushed the share price higher. The blind idiots dumping money into a rathole got what they deserved. Come to think of it, I lost money on waMu too (albeit only a few bucks). Maybe I should be in prison too.