Thank You, Mr Grasso

Dick Grasso has just resigned as President and Chairman of the Board at The Exchange, aka New York Stock Exchange. He was shown the door because his board had compensated his superior stewardship with cash awards. Option awards were unavaliable given the corporate structure at NYSE. Had he been awarded an annual salary of single digit millions and options as is common in corporate America this tempest would not have materialized... just the same soup, different day. But in the brave new world of stock awards and cash his remunerative success, ~ 150 millions after forgiving another ~50 millions, Mr Grasso is a grasping ghoul fouling The Exchange and corporate culture.

Appointed President and COO in 1988 under Bill Donaldson the current head of the SEC , he was named to the Chairmanship in 1996 upon Donaldson's departure. For 7 years it was his show. And what a show it was. Bull and bear markets of monumental scale, rapid technological change and the concomitant competitive threats, major scandals involving member firms as well as floor members, the exposure of corruption at the highest levels of American corporate culture, and war. Had the NYSE made missteps at any one of these junctures the financial costs alone to the institution would have been measured in orders of magnitude to Mr Grasso's compensation. Can it be reasonably asserted that the institution was uninjured, unscratched through just dumb luck? His stewardship not only saved centimillions in potential fines to the institution he saved the day time and again and as a result there is still an NYSE.

Could this sad outcome be laid at the feet of the same board that granted the compensation? Could they fear the former Chairman, Grasso's old boss who now heads the SEC? Do they cringe in the face of a guy they paid ten cents on the dollar to when compared to Mr Grasso's paycheck?

Forget Mr Donaldson. Grasso's the guy who knows where all the bodies are buried and Elliot Spitzer is on the prowl.