"I'M BLESSED, THANK YOU" by NYSE BALD HEAD GRASSO

as howie mandel would say, "well...what would you say?" if i was given a pay package like grasso was, i think that his response was well thought out and proper. "no thanks thats way too much" would have been silly and frankly, stupid.

as the head, bald head, of the NYSE, grasso was at the helm during the most widespread wave of corporate crime and fraud in the exchanges history. and thats just the stuff we know about. he claims to have saved the exchange from the electronic trading assault that is still ongoing. he claims to have preserved the antiquated open call-out system manned by specialists. he claims to have grown the number of companies listed. he claims lots of stuff that seem somewhat meaningless, compared to the investor assets lost during the corporate crime spree of the 1990's.

what exactly he was doing to oversee the exchange and ensure that the investor was being protected is not clear. the exchange has investigated many companies after the fact. the exchange has been notified of every kind of illegal activity going on under its not so watchful eye. it has done nothing to protect the small investor from the wolves that dominate the exchange activity. in fact, those wolves are the very people who sit on the board of the NYSE and make up the compensation committee that determined what grasso was worth.

the ole boy system at its very best. certainly not capitalism. no checks, and no balances, just lots of pats on the back and undeserved kudos for a job not very well done. in an effort to quell public and private outrage, grasso has agreed to forego an additional $48 million he didn't deserve. the $140 million he claims is due and payable for services rendered over his 35 year career he'll take. a good part of that was "earned" in the last few years as he was compensated like a dot-comer.

as he claims to be fixing the problems of the past and protecting the interests of the 85 million investors who have money under his watch, he is bilking the exchange and proving that nothing has changed and nothing will change.

have a grateful day!

larry