Here’s the Real Grasso Scandal

[dArKeR]

Until recently, Dick Grasso was a symbol of capitalist success. He’d started as a listings clerk at the New York Stock Exchange in 1968 and 30 years later had climbed to the top of the organization, despite his working-class origins and an education that went no further than high school. But last week his story morphed from success to excess. His $140 million payday cost him his job. It’s easy to moralize about Grasso’s downfall and the evils of greed, but there are more subtle forces at work here. Grasso was playing by the old “high-pay-OK” rules, and the game has changed since the stock bubble burst and corporate scandals erupted. Although famous for his PR skills, Grasso didn’t apologize, and he didn’t really defend himself, either. He seemed totally clueless, as if he didn’t see the rules had changed. The board did see that, and insisted on disclosing his pay immediately rather than waiting until the NYSE annual report comes out early next year. But the board is now stuck trying to explain the unexplainable: why it forced out a man for taking the money that it gave him.

http://msnbc.com/news/969675.asp?0cl=c1

Mr. Sloan,

1. He was YOUR symbol of succuss.

2. You, as a journalist, why did you let the rules become that in the first place?

[Don Galt]

1. 30 years...

Its unfortunate that nobody pays attention to the fact that the $140 was DEFERRED INCOME. Meaning, he'd earned that money over the 30 years he worked there.

IT wasn't greed, it was 30 years of hard work toward a retirement nest egg that ended up being really big.

This is one problem democrats have-- they are so eager to find rich people to hate that they smear a lot of decent people in the process.

We shouldn't be the party of bigotry-- even towards rich people. Cause ultimately what can rich people do with thier money? They can invest it. They can spend it. Tehy can put it in the bank. Or they can take it out of circulation.

All four possibilities help the economy and help people get jobs. Jobs and economic growth are the best answer to poverty the world has found.

Money is not evil.

[camero]

2. Money is not evil

But the love of money is the root of all evil.

[Code_Name_D]

3. You forget, greed is a vertue these days.

nt

[camero]

4. Oh

and all this time, I thought it was a sin. Silly me. (Sarcasm)

[Lone_Wolf_Moderate]

5. Exactly!

There seems to be a tendency of some people on the Left to criticize people because they're rich. Believe it or not, a lot of wealthy billionaires got that way by playing by the rules. I detest class warfare, from the top (supply-side silliness), the middle, or the bottom. We as liberals all want everyone to get a fair shake, but let's not blame the rich for every economic crisis.