Countrywide (NYSE: CFC) CEO Angelo Mozilo, perhaps the most reviled executive in corporate America, will get $10 million as part of a Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) takeover of the mortgage broker. Investors and members of Congress are incensed. The "bonus" is described in SEC filing as "performance based." Countrywide shares are down from $42.24 to $5.63 over the past year.

One powerful senator may go after the payment. "It's perverse for Bank of America to reward the principal architects of the bad business practices that caused this housing crisis,'' said Sen. Charles Schumer, D-NY, said in a statement, according to the AP. Perhaps shareholders will get lucky and Schumer will fight the pay-out of the money.

It is a shame that Bank of America would hurt its own reputation by doing this. Countrywide was available for sale because it was in such deep trouble. BAC did not need to "pay off" Mozilo to get a deal done.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.

MAJOR PAPERS:

• The Wall Street Journal reported that private loans under the Federal Family Education Loan, or FEEL, program have begun to give way to the federal direct loan program, as private lenders run into subsidy cuts and problems raising capital. To date about 60 colleges and universities have made the switch.
• Carl Icahn, a 6.3% Motorola Inc (NYSE: MOT) shareholder, has sued the company to get board of director documents, turning away offers of two board seats, the Wall Street Journal reported. Icahn wants information about the company's unprofitable handset business.
• Ford Motor Company (NYSE: F) is expected Wednesday to announce an agreement to sell its Jaguar and Land Rover units to India's Tata Motors Limited (NYSE: TTM) for about $2B, the Financial Times reported.

OTHER PAPERS:

• According to the Business Review, New York State Senator Charles Schumer is planning to 'reveal details' of a conversation he had with the CEO of Advanced Micro Devices Inc (NYSE: AMD) on March 21 about the company's plans to build a $3.2B computer chip plant in Saratoga County.

Earlier this week, the SEC reportedly launched an informal investigation of Countrywide Financial Corporation (NYSE: CFC)'s CEO Angelo Mozilo's stock sales, specifically the acceleration of his pre-arranged share-selling program.

Now New York Senator Charles Schumer is calling for more blood -- he wants the investigation expanded to include the company: In a statement, he said that the SEC should "expand its informal probe of suspicious stock sales by Countrywide CEO Angelo Mozilo to include the company itself, which may have taken steps to enable Mozilo's stock dumping as the subprime crisis heated up and Countrywide's stock prices plunged... Did Countrywide repeatedly adjust Mozilo's prearranged selling plans at his request, such that the intent and purpose of these plans -- the prevention of insider trading -- was undermined?"

It's a little weird for a Senator to offer advice on an SEC investigation, and it's hard to understand what exactly Schumer's point is -- other than trying to look tough on fraud and go after a company that is deservedly unpopular for its role in the subprime meltdown.

But I think the SEC probably has thing under control, and I'd be surprised if the investigation didn't expand to include the company.

Will Ben Bernanke's speech tomorrow at the Fed's syposium in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, be as important as the pundits expect? Maybe not.

There are many, many worrying signs. The commercial paper market is a mess. Jobless claims rose higher than expected. The housing market remains horrible.

H&R Block (NYSE: HRB) Chief Executive Mark Ernst said today the "mortgage origination market is in the midst of the most severe dislocation it has seen in years, maybe the most severe since the 1930s." Housing prices had their smallest gain in 10 years, according to the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight.

But this Fed chairman has a dramatically different view of his job than did his predecessor, Alan Greenspan, who regularly used interest rate cuts during financial crises, as The Wall Street Journal (subscription required) points out. Plus, Bernanke seems to hold the view that the job of the Federal Reserve ISN'T to rescue people who took stupid risks, such as the ones that lead to the subprime mortgage crisis.

It's been giddy times on Wall Street. Might this be the prelude to a big fall?

That's the take from a recent report from Senator Charles E. Schumer and Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg. The research is based on the work of the management consulting firm McKinsey, which conducted 50 extensive interviews of business leaders.

Basically, unless certain changes are made, NY may lose anywhere from 4% to 7% of its global share of the financial services market within the next five years.

It should be no surprise, since among other problems the US has too much litigation.

What's more, the new regulations of Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) make it unfavorable for companies to go public in the US. As a result, overseas markets look more attractive.

The good news is that these are things that can be fixed. For example, it looks like the SEC is already making moves to lessen the impact of SOX.

But as usual, such issues are complex and can be crowded out by other political issues -- after all, how many Americans really know what SOX is? So it is likely to take a while for change to take place.

In the meantime, other major overseas financial centers will, of course, not wait.

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including the Complete M&A Handbook and the EDGAR-Online Guide to Decoding Financial Statements.