Craig Read Posted September 17, 2003 Report Share Posted September 17, 2003 I am fully in favor of free markets, allowing firms to decide their own compensation levels and allowing competition. I am also in favor of the NYSE and invest in the Dow and S&P. I am not however in favor of nepotism, greed and corruption at the top levels of any company or paying someone like Grasso $140 mn USD. Check out Dick Grasso - head of the NYSE - and see if you think this is fair: -U$ 2.5 million paycheck as CEO per annum -Runs a medium sized corporation with $2 billion in assets -No competition - a virtual monopoly -Acts as a regulator for the NYSE markets -Follows Federal rules -Will receive $140 million in pay out bonuses and retirement funds Performance ? His price per seat [what companies pay to sit on the exchange] UNDER performed the S&P index during his tenure 1995-now. Reasons given for the $140 mn: -He is a great leader -He updated the software system for trading -He build a backup generator system which allowed NYSE to trade after 9-11 -He has no hair and a squeaky voice He should resign, and the entire board with him. This is disgusting - an abuse of a system and of profits. Half of all profits made are now paid to one man !! No wonder capitalism has its critics. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Craig Read Posted September 18, 2003 Author Report Share Posted September 18, 2003 YES Grasso just resigned !!!! Corporate Governance gone awry. Me thinketh so. Now lynch the entire Board Please ! and start to make the NYSE conform to the governance laws of its members. And make Grasso pay the $ back. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Craig Read Posted September 18, 2003 Author Report Share Posted September 18, 2003 I don't agree with Al Hunt on much - he is a typical revisionist Lie-beral - but for once Al is right on. "As compensation scandals go the Grasso debacle pales next to some. Dennis Kozlowski hauled in $71 million last year as CEO for Tyco, while allegedly using the corporate treasury as a personal piggybank -- and cutting jobs and losing shareholders' value. Rather than criminality, the Grasso caper is about avarice. But his compensation, secretly arranged, for the head of a quasi-public, quasi-regulatory institution, is illustrative of this gilded age of greed." Grasso and his ilk just don't get it. You don't destroy the bottom line and your company's reserves to pay yourself obscene income and severance. This is why capitalism has its critics. This is why we have criminal codes, board of directors and shareholder lawsuits. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djpark121 Posted September 24, 2003 Report Share Posted September 24, 2003 I agree Craig Read. Good news: http://www.msnbc.com/news/945950.asp Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Craig Read Posted September 25, 2003 Author Report Share Posted September 25, 2003 His defenders maintain that he is justly compensated vis a vis other financial firms - that compete in the open market and that he did nothing illegal. I think packing the board with your friends, taking 1/2 - 1/3 of yearly profits and a huge piece of the 'seat prices' for your own pay and blocking the technology improvements that are necessary ie. less traders is just as fraudalent. No shareholder approval of pay, no governance structure and worse - the NYSE tells Corporate America to reform its governance structure and comply to the SEC regulations while they steal their shareholders money !! Grasso rushed his pay [in cash] 4 years before he retires in ONE lump sum, BEFORE the October deadline for the new SEC rules on corporate governance. He is just as fraudalent and guilty of corporate fraud as Bernie Ebbers. He should go to Jail. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RB Posted September 28, 2003 Report Share Posted September 28, 2003 do we know what the others at the stock exchange are paid - you'd be surprised the board is not surprise though they are the ones who approve the compensations Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Craig Read Posted September 28, 2003 Author Report Share Posted September 28, 2003 Government regulated and managed cronyism. Tyco, World Com, Enron - they all operated in gov't controlled and regulated sectors and they all had deep relationships with both parties. Are we actually surprised at their malfeasance ? Same for the NYSE - Grasso is a criminal - there is no doubt he stole the retained earnings of a regulator. He should go to jail. I am happy to see that clown McCall resign - he was Chairman of the Comp Committee. I got sick of him defending Grasso's pay package. This man has zero common sense and is arrogant to the point of blindness. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Craig Read Posted October 3, 2003 Author Report Share Posted October 3, 2003 Following on - i knew there was some fraud in play. WSJ today Former New York Stock Exchange Chairman Dick Grasso pressured a major Big Board floor firm to increase its purchases of shares of giant insurer American International Group Inc. after Mr. Grasso received written complaints from AIG Chairman Maurice "Hank" Greenberg, according to people familiar with the matter. Pay offs to buddies, $ under the table, a little pressure here and there, some slime over there etc. Monopoly capitalism and excess. No wonder people are skeptical of capitalism in this guise. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Craig Read Posted December 30, 2003 Author Report Share Posted December 30, 2003 Few are as big of a booster for free markets and enlightened self interest, but all the rules in the world will not stop corporate greed and fraud, unless JAIL TIME and FULL ASSET seizing are instituted - immediately. Witness Dick Grasso - God i hate this guy - received $140 mn walk out CASH for underperforming. No wonder the average person views corporate capitalism with a jaundiced eye. Finally, the machinations that kept Mr. Grasso's friends and allies on the board became a symbol of corporate governance gone bad when it was revealed that those same people doled out his big pay package.Three months after Mr. Grasso's departure, it is already clear that his strategy helped undermine the credibility, reputation and traditions of the institution he wanted to protect. An internal investigation, conducted by former federal prosecutor Dan Webb, discovered substantial evidence that Mr. Grasso's pay was inappropriately granted by the exchange's board, according to people familiar with the probe. Mr. Webb's report, circulated among NYSE board members in recent days, concluded that there are grounds for asking Mr. Grasso to return at least $50 million of his compensation, these people say. The SEC has found that during Mr. Grasso's reign, specialists repeatedly traded for their own benefit in the place of customers who were ready to trade at the same price. This spurt of questionable trading may have cost investors at least $155 million, according to the SEC staff. Two weeks ago, the California Public Employees Retirement System cited that finding when it sued the NYSE in federal court alleging that it was shortchanged by specialist firms. Return the money to the shareholders and put the bum in jail. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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