<p>Dick Grasso, one of the better leaders the New York Stock Exchange has had and a man still in the prime of his career, was forced to resign late yesterday for the crime of . . . being overpaid?</p>
<p>This would certainly puzzle the proverbial visitor from Mars, unless he'd lived through the past 24 months of corporate scandal. Mr. Grasso was booted not just for his shockingly big pay package, but for the fact that the responsible board members were surprised and bemused by the discovery that they'd paid him so much. The head of the board's compensation committee, H. Carl McCall, whose most recent day job involved looking after billions in New York State pension funds, somehow lost track of the fact that he'd signed off on $140 million in accumulated pay and benefits for Mr. Grasso.</p>
