Conspicuous consumption compensation:

In the news: NYSE Pays $139.5 Mln to Keep Grasso (excerpts, emphasis added)

The New York Stock Exchange on Wednesday said it paid out almost $140 million to Chairman and Chief Executive Richard Grasso in accrued savings, benefits and incentives, and extended his contract until 2007.

The new employment agreement means Grasso, who was appointed chairman in 1995, will remain in his post for two years beyond the term of his current contract, the exchange said in a statement. It provides for the same base salary of $1.4 million and the same annual bonus of at least $1 million.

"I am a big believer that social stratification is not a good thing, and that no one needs that much money to motivate them to do a good job," said George Washington University law professor Theresa Gabaldon of Grasso's compensation package. "The idea that anyone needs that much money for motivation is ludicrous."

She said the exchange may have feared losing Grasso.

It is ludicrous.

Remember, Bush wanted a tax cut for people like Grasso - and he got it.

posted by Quiddity at 8/28/2003 07:08:00 AM