This is why WAMU is no more. The company was obviously run by a pack of imbeciles and nincompoops.
Not really, well maybe some of them. For example Kerry Killinger was the CEO for about 19 years. Her made a whole lot of money for a whole lot of people over the years. He was young for such a veteran CEO, and he could have retired years ago and relaxed the rest of his life. Kerry loved WaMu and believed in the company. Someday, when we drain the swamp in Washington DC, we’ll find out the real reasons for all this housing mess. Congress and lawyers have been pressuring lenders to provide “affordable mortgages” for the low income people. They even sued WaMu any time they thought WaMu was trying to rein in the more risky paper. Kerry started trying to put the brakes on this in 2004 or 2005, and really worked on pumping up the retail banking side of the house in order to try to stave off the upcoming liquidity problem. Sure, he should take the blame, after all, he was the captain of the ship. In the last couple of years he gave up a lot of his bonus and took compensation in stock options. Stock Options are only valuable if your company survives.