Peter – I hear you and I’m sorry if I was snippy before — I hadn’t had my coffee. That said, do we really want to create a situation where conservatives seem like apologists for anything the private sector does for fear the government might be enticed into doing something stupid? I make the case all of the time that something can be constitutional and still be wrong. Why I can’t we say something is shady and a bad business practice without saying it warrants more regulations?
I was talking with a friend of mine today who works in a related industry and he made the point that the issue with Grasso is simple hypocrisy. The NYSE has been “super preachy” about governance, transparency, conflicts of interest etc. And now it turns out Grasso’s got to get his own house in order.
Meanwhile, Gregg Easterbrook says the issue isn’t hypocrisy, it’s corruption .