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

To: Carol M. Morse who wrote (62812)	1/29/2003 11:23:06 PM
From: Stock Farmer	Respond to of 77400

Yup, good analogy: options are like homesteading. But you might ask a few Native Americans what they think about how the homesteading of immigrants affected them... and then maybe you might get an idea why shareholders have a dim view of stock options. Cheers, John

To: Carol M. Morse who wrote (62812)	1/30/2003 2:07:03 AM
From: hueyone	Respond to of 77400

In America, stock options are the modern equivalent of the Homestead Act, and are the only way for most American's to have a prayer of owning a significant piece of a productive asset- the company for which they work. Sounds like this man thinks shareholders have a moral obligation to provide employees with a charity program. Listen, most stock options go to folks earnings six figure incomes. I know a way for them to own a piece of the company they work for---open their wallets and purchase shares like everyone else does. More seriously however, the debate is not about abolishing stock options or who receives them, it is simply about properly accounting for them on the income statement. Failing to account for compensation paid to employees with stock options on the income statement is no less silly than failing to account for compensation paid to employees with cash on the income statement imo. Regards, Huey P.S. I suspect this Vice chair of the Naz is a little worried about some of his beloved Naz stocks, but they will be stronger and better companies in the long run if they come clean on this options expensing issue.

To: Carol M. Morse who wrote (62812)	1/30/2003 11:20:30 AM
From: RetiredNow	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 77400

Good article, but I think he misses the point. I'm all for stock options as long as they are fully accounted for in the income statement in such a way that it doesn't deceive shareholders. At the end of the day, if it is easy to loot shareholders to enrich insiders, then eventually the company will fail as shareholders flee the company. Then even the insiders will suffer. So the point is that corporate managers have to play a smart balancing game between the needs of customers, employees, and shareholders. Right now, for Cisco at least, the balance has shifted away from shareholders and towards employees. It's time to shif the balance back. If they do that, then employees with current stock options will also benefit as the stock starts to rise again.