The other day we wrote about First Magnus when they were struggling. Now it looks like they are really singing the mortgage blues. Our thoughts and prayers go out to the thousands now unemployed. Decision-makers can ruin a company but the workers are real people with real families and mortgages of their own.

First Magnus Financial Corp., a national mortgage lender that is suspending operations, says it has laid off 99 percent of its nearly 6,000 employees nationwide and closed all of its more than 300 offices. According to a notice filed with the state Friday, the Tucson-based company that originated home loans and then sold bundled loans into the secondary loan market expects to retain only about 60 of its employees. First Magnus officials said a bankruptcy filing was possible.