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To: hueyone who wrote (178948)	8/9/2004 5:34:42 PM
From: Lizzie Tudor	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 186894

---the greatest financial scam in the history of mankind. Sheesh you are one for the dramatic hueyone. Your assumptions that options are being forced upon an unsuspecting public are just false.

To: hueyone who wrote (178948)	8/9/2004 6:07:18 PM
From: Saturn V	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 186894

the greatest financial scam in the history of mankind Boy are you getting carried away ! You seem to have convinced yourself that all companies which have employee option programs are scam artists like Enron. The zeal to curb option grants will not eliminate management dishonesty ! Dishonest managers will always find some creative new way to cheat. The best way to solve the problem is to punish guilty managers with heavy prison terms, and social ostracism. Call it what you will most of Silicon Valley and American Hi Tech Industry would not have happened without Employee stock options !

To: hueyone who wrote (178948)	8/9/2004 8:04:37 PM
From: Don Lloyd	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 186894

Huey, Silicon Valley really has a huge scam going on by paying employees with non expensed stock options and then buying back these exercised shares with non expensed cash flow. As you know, there is unlikely to be anyone more opposed to the expensing of stock options than I am, but the buying back of stock is what makes your statement effectively correct. There are only two valid reasons for a company buying its own stock. One is as an investment the same as any other undervalued stock. The second is as a way to effectively return excess cash to shareholders, but only if the stock price is not too high. When a company CEO talks about buying back stock to offset dilution, he is effectively admitting to a capital crime. There is no valid purpose, other than deception, for buying back stock to mask the degree of share ownership dilution. The posted article understates the problem by not counting the full purchase price instead of just the amount above the exercise price. The exercise price paid has already been added to earnings. Regards, Don

To: hueyone who wrote (178948)	8/10/2004 2:25:15 PM
From: Bill Martin	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 186894

Re: ...I hope one day that this scam is recognized for what it is---the greatest financial scam in the history of mankind.... I don't have a dog in this options fight either way, but you embarrass yourself by your abysmal ignorance revealed in this statement. Read a little history to get some perspective on what constitutes a "scam" in the past, let alone the greatest one in history. You may not like the accounting rules, but they're certainly not a scam which my dictionary describes as a fraudulent scheme. If it were fraud, people would be going to jail for issuing options. Less hyperbole perhaps, and an intelligent discussion might ensue? Bill