Here in the United States, a group of executives widely blamed for playing a key role in causing the economic crisis now stand to make hundreds of millions of dollars from the failed mortgages they once handed out. The New York Times reports twelve former executives at Countrywide Financial have established a new company to buy up delinquent home mortgages that the government has inherited from shuttered banks. The new company, PennyMac, has bought up around $800 million in loans so far, often at rock-bottom prices. It makes its money if it can get homeowners to resume payments under more favorable terms. Countrywide became synonymous with predatory and risky loans to borrowers who either couldn’t afford them or were misled on their interest rate. PennyMac says it hopes to increase its portfolio to as much as $15 billion in the next eighteen months. It’s led by Stanford Kurland, Countrywide’s former president.