America, where Capitalism Is Good

[Dru]

Dick Grasso was the former chairman

and CEO of the New York Stock Exchange.

Grasso had to resign in 2003, when shocked

worthies discovered that he had somehow

maneuvered his way into receiving a staggering

personal payout of $140 million dollars in a year.

 

The guy primarily responsible for Grasso's

stunningly generous compensation was

the chairman of the compensation committee

of the New York Stock Exchange, a prominent

New York investment banker named Ken Langone.

 

When New York State Attorney General

Eliot Spitzer demanded that Grasso

give back a hundred million dollars

of his massive pay, Langone went

to the mattresses.

 

Check this out: FORTUNE magazine,

October 18, 2004, page 287.

 

 

"They got the wrong fucking guy," Langone

told FORTUNE during one of a series of

incendiary conversations. "I'm nuts,

I'm rich, and boy do I love a fight.

I'm going to make them shit in their pants.

When I get through with these fucking

captains of industry, they're going to

wish they were in a Cuisinart -- at high speed."

He adds: "If Grasso gives back a fucking

nickel, I'll never talk to him again."

 

 

Yes sirree, Mr. and Mrs. America, your

retirement funds are safe with these guys.

[scott_harpell]

"I'm nuts,

I'm rich, and boy do I love a fight.

I'm going to make them shit in their pants.

[cj001f]

Dru - the NYSE is owned by the banks and traders who do business on it. They can pay the head of the NYSE however much they damn well please - and they paid him well because the NYSE did extraordinarily well for them under Dick Grasso.

[Dru]

so why's Spitzer on his ass then eh?

[jjd]

so why's Spitzer on his ass then eh?

 

Because he's a fucking asshole and he's twisting New York laws regarding the pay of employees at non-profit organizations (the NYSE itself is run not for profit). Basically, he's trying to exert influence over a private contract. It is interesting to consider how the heaviest hitters on Wall Street somehow couldn't understand Dick Grasso's pay package - right, the CEOs/Chairmen of some of the largest investment banks in the world couldn't understand a contract.