ECONOMICS REPORT - Will Former Exchange Chief Have to Return

ECONOMICS REPORT - Will Former Exchange Chief Have to Return Pay?
By Mario Ritter

Broadcast: Friday, June 04, 2004

This is Bob Doughty¹ with the VOA Special English Economics Report.

Not many people would admit they were paid too much for a job. But that is what Richard Grasso is being asked to do. Mister Grasso was chief of the New York Stock Exchange until last September. Since then, the exchange has asked him to return more than one-hundred-million dollars of his pay. Now the state attorney general of New York, Eliot Spitzer, has brought civil charges to demand that money back.

The New York Stock Exchange is organized as a company that operates for the public good. It is governed under state rules called the Not-for-Profit Corporation Law. This law says companies that do not earn profit cannot pay their employees an "unreasonable²" amount. But the law does not say how much is too much.

Mister Spitzer does not say that Mister Grasso was a bad chief executive officer. In fact, he praises his work as C.E.O. Mister Grasso is credited with helping³ to re-open the stock markets after the terrorist attacks of September eleventh, two-thousand-one.

But he also served as chairman of the board of directors of the exchange. Mister Spitzer says Mister Grasso pressured the members to approve too much pay.

Mister Spitzer also says that information was hidden from the board. A man named Frank Ashen⁴ is cooperating in the case. His job was to inform the board about Mister Grasso's pay. Mister Ashen says mistakes were made. But he says he never purposely gave incorrect or incomplete information to the directors.

Last December, the stock exchange separated the duties of chief executive officer and chairman of the board.

The pay plan for Mister Grasso is complex. It included a retirement⁵ plan, special pay and money to be paid at a later time. Last August the board voted to approve almost one-hundred-ninety-million dollars in pay for recent years. Mister Grasso has already received one-hundred-forty million dollars. He agreed not to ask for the additional money. But, in the end, the exchange may owe him even more than that if he wins.

Mister Grasso says the case brought by the New York state attorney general appears political. He says he did not try to hide anything, and that the board approved all the money. The former chief of the world's biggest stock exchange says he did nothing wrong. And he says he expects the courts to agree.

This VOA Special English Economics Report was written by Mario Ritter. This is Bob Doughty.

1 doughty   

adj.勇猛的，坚强的

参考例句：

• Most of successful men have the characteristics of contumacy and doughty.绝大多数成功人士都有共同的特质：脾气倔强，性格刚强。
• The doughty old man battled his illness with fierce determination.坚强的老人用巨大毅力与疾病作斗争。

2 unreasonable   

adj.不讲道理的，不合情理的，过度的

参考例句：

• I know that they made the most unreasonable demands on you.我知道他们对你提出了最不合理的要求。
• They spend an unreasonable amount of money on clothes.他们花在衣服上的钱太多了。

3 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

4 ashen   

adj.灰的

参考例句：

• His face was ashen and wet with sweat.他面如土色，汗如雨下。
• Her ashen face showed how much the news had shocked her.她灰白的脸显示出那消息使她多么震惊。

5 retirement   

n.退休，退职

参考例句：

• She wanted to enjoy her retirement without being beset by financial worries.她想享受退休生活而不必为金钱担忧。
• I have to put everything away for my retirement.我必须把一切都积蓄起来以便退休后用。