Here's something I agree with.

Dear Editor:

The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) is a private business, even if
heavily regulated; and what the owners pay their chairman, Richard
Grasso, is no one's business but theirs.

Motivating the complaints about Grasso's compensation is the Marxist
notion that all property is collectively owned--as if those who own
not a red cent of NYSE stock somehow have a right to tell the owners
what to do with their private property.

"Private" means: 1. "of, belonging to, or concerning a particular
person or group; 2. not open to, intended for, or controlled by the
public."

Another mistaken Marxist notion is that property is a zero-sum
commodity, i.e., if Grasso gets $188 million it comes out of
everybody's pocket. But those millions come out of the private pockets
of the NYSE owners, not anybody else's.

The most disturbing aspect of this public lynching of private property
is that Grasso, like Jack Welch a year ago, has now caved in to the
mob and agreed to forgo millions "to quell the controversy." The
reprehensible thing about this whole issue is not the amount of money
Grasso will get, but the lack of moral courage exhibited by people
like Grasso and Welch. Such cowardice hastens the day when we will all
be forced to live by the Marxist mantra: "all property is theft."

Sincerely,

Larry Benson
Ayn Rand Institute

2121 Alton Parkway, #250
Irvine, CA 92606
United States
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