Mozilo blames everyone but himself and never once mentions that the root cause of the mortgage crisis was due in large part to his company’s irresponsible lending practices. As the nation’s largest mortgage company, Countrywide bears much of the responsibility for the mortgage crisis that has caused so much damage to the economy and, more importantly, to thousands of people and families affected as a result of their actions.

You don’t give home loans to people who can’t really afford them or shouldn’t have them. This means we sometimes have to be forward-thinking, responsible and provide full disclosure about the loan products and the potential impact it could have on one’s life and circumstance.

I learned to believe that the role of any governing body was to incorporate measures of accountability upon their respective chief executives. How can someone who ran a multimillion-dollar corporation into the ground still be leading the organization in its transition and buyout? For most of us, if you don’t do your job competently, you get terminated. You don’t get a million-dollar severance package.

This demonstrates the fact that there is no real corporate accountability. We need to return to a time where corporations were more closely regulated. These corporate leaders are so disconnected and out-of-touch with reality they care little about the result of their incompetencies and the impact their actions have on people’s lives.

— Pedro A. Chavez, Santa Rosa Valley