Good morning: I opened this morning's Seattle Times and saw that Washington Mutual ousted its CEO, Kerry Killinger. Killinger held on far longer than alot of people thought he would given Wa. Mu.'s abysmal performance over the past year.

Several people at Wa. Mu. didn't blame Killinger for the mess they're in. Rather, they said it was the President, Steven Rotella, who led them into subprime and option ARM lending that started Wa. Mu's precipitous slide. Either way, the person at the top usaully pays the heaviest price when things go wrong so Killinger had to go.

I'm wondering what took so long. All the other big financial institutions cut their CEO's much sooner (think Citigroup, Merrill Lynch, etc.). And Wa. Mu. had been having problems for over a year now. The stock went from over $40/share to $3 and loan losses were in the billions. Killinger was a company man (over 30 years of service) and built Wa. Mu. into a huge bank from a much smaller Savings and Loan.

The question going forward is what will happen to Wa. Mu? Their stock is still hovering around $3/share and there have been rumors of  a buyout by another financial institution. Their portfolio of risky mortgages (think pay option ARM's) is still very high as a percentage (some estimate as high as 20%) and these loans are part of the reason there have been so many defaults and foreclosures. Right now Wa. Mu. is pretty sick. Will they survive? I think so but it may be because of a merger or as a much smaller entity.

Although it's always saddening when a company and community involved person such as Killinger is ousted, life goes on. And Killinger is estimated to walk away with over $23 million in severance. This is on top of what he already had salted away. I've watched Wa. Mu. turn into a behemoth up here and believe they're a good bank. Perhaps now the healing can begin! Have a great week!

Paul