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Technology Stocks : Cisco Systems, Inc. (CSCO) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: RetiredNow who wrote (57669)	2/19/2002 1:06:41 PM
From: willcousa	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 77400

I think stock options offer an attractive incentive for attracting top employees. They also should align employee and shareholder interests. They are granted when the market price is low and do not become valuable unless the stock value increases. They cost no cash and in some forms provide tax and thus cash benefits to the company. So I would like to see them retained as part of the compensation aresenal available to the companies I invest in. What we need is some remedies to stop specific wrongdoing. How about treble damages for self-dealing by employees against their employers?

To: RetiredNow who wrote (57669)	2/19/2002 1:58:26 PM
From: Stock Farmer	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 77400

Thanks mindmeld. Myself, I don't hold with the view we should make something useful illegal, just because it is misused. I'd prefer to see the company executive held to task by shareholders for everything they do with shareholder capital. I'd call that being held "accountable". I think that if folks are effectively held accountable for the actual cost of stock option compensation that the right thing will happen by its very nature. It will get used where it is appropriate, and those who abuse it will be punished in the capital markets. See Lizzie's post for example. And you can go back to binning your proxy ;o) Besides, I want as many of these stock options as possible. Hopefully equity upside participation remains a valid and valuable element of the employer's compensation toolkit. So I would like to see companies force to explicitly account for the compensation employees actually recieve as an expense to earnings, credit to cash flow, and a credit to shareholder equity. The exact opposite of "Deferred Revenues", if you need an accounting frame of reference. And then you won't have to make them illegal! John