Political Quotes

“Whatever we do here should have a positive impact. There is something else stock options do, too. Because stock options are predominantly awarded to top executives, they are a great way to give yourself a sweetheart deal, with a powerful incentive for executives to look for ways to inflate stock prices so their stock options, at least for a while, are worth millions, even hundreds of millions of dollars. Here is what Business Week said about stock options back in March: Options grants that promised to turn caretaker corporate managers into multimillionaires in just a few years encourage some to ignore the basics in favor of pumping up stock prices. And pump they did. Here is how much stock options distorted the bottom line for some of the biggest and best companies in America. One study by a London-based consulting firm, Smither and Company, looked at the use of stock options by 145 of the largest U.S. companies. They found that those firms overstated profit by 30 percent in 1995, 36 percent in 1996, 56 percent in 1997, and 50 percent in 1998.”