Executive's pay puzzles shareholder

Hiawatha Bray's opinions and sources seem weighted toward defending EMC's stock performance ("EMC chief got $20m pay deal," March 27). In fact, aside from a bland, objective observation by Paul Hodgson, senior research associate at Corporate Library of Portland, Maine , I don't see one condemnation of the huge gap between chief executive Joseph Tucci's gargantuan salary, bonus, and stock benefits and the continually flat stock value. Bray, however, quotes Tucci's EMC colleagues as well as corporate compensation expert Erik Beucler, who says that "disgruntled shareholders aren't always the best judges of executive performance," and states that share price is not always the best indicator in the short run.

Well, as someone who never invested before and foolishly listened to her brother's advice following the receipt of some of our father's estate, I don't see what other vantage point I, or other shareholders, have. I bought too many shares in 2000 at $89 per share. Following its subsequent plummet, EMC stock, according to Morningstar, has hovered under $20 since July 2001, and under $15 since February 2002.

Granted, I knew nothing much about the company, market trends, or, for that matter, the right-wing politics of founder Richard Egan when I invested, but I trusted my brother (yes, we are still speaking).

Perhaps it is the non savvy, unpretentious, and trusting shareholder who might be the most qualified to question the puzzling chasm between Tucci's deal and that of average investors.

Susie Davidson
Brookline

Habitat for Humanity and cleaning up housing and making it affordable are not the issues ("Urban Terrorists," March 30). We cannot compete on an intellectual level with India, China, Indonesia, and other nations where peasantry has been institutionalized for centuries. The elite are those with money and education who can now invent the kinds of things that we used to invent. They are funded and supported by United States companies that want to go global.

We no longer have a social agenda in this country. We don't care about the peasantry. They are fit for menial jobs, living in squalor, and fighting among themselves for scraps.

We, of the land of free and universal public education, have lost our course. Talk to a student from India competing for a high school diploma -- a 4.0 score is the entry to the next level. The three acceptable professions are physician, engineer, or lawyer. There is shame for the family that does not achieve.

The sad part is that we are so wrapped up in our ideology and ideas of equality that we fail to see the change before us and get off our butts and compete as hard in education as we do in sports.

James Ebrecht
Atlanta

I rarely read the Automotive section, but I couldn't help but notice the camo-colored muscle car showcased on April Fool's Day ("Street-legal Volvo ," April 1 ). Author Royal Ford gushed, "I loved playing with the gears." His fawning description of the snowboard-ready gas guzzler almost made me forget that the goal of car companies should be to raise fleet gas mileage, not to raise horsepower. The article ends with an even worse environmental affront; the vehicle will be "shipped back to Sweden and crushed." Please tell me that this article was an April Fool's Day joke.

Ron Strickland
Bedford

Here's why I buy organic milk for my family ("Beleaguered farmers ," April 1 ). I not only want milk that's free of Rbst, but I believe that milk that comes from a "happy" cow is better for my family. A cow that's pastured, fed on grass, and allowed to roam makes better milk. And by buying specific brands of milk, I support family farms and what I believe to be better quality production practices.

Have readers ever seen cows treated with Rbst? Their udders are distended. This is an uncomfortable condition for the cow, and the udder becomes so full that the teats drag on the ground, where they get infected and then cause the farmer to administer antibiotics to the cow. Those are also passed along in the milk. It's an ugly cycle, and one I don't intend to support by buying milk from companies that treat their cows with Rbst. I'll gladly pay higher prices for the milk I want my family to have.

Kristene Richardson
Richardson, Texas

Thanks for writing the story about the Ritz-Carlton and Berklee students ("Enjoy the Taj tonight ," April 6 ). I'm a jazz pianist in Boston, and know all too well what most club owners and hotel lounges are willing to pay for our profession, and it's pretty sad. The Ritz is not alone here, but with their prices, there really is no excuse for this. In 1991, my trio worked in the lobby lounge of the Philadelphia Ritz for relatively good money. What's happened here is what is going on in all industries, with the outsourcing of jobs to cheap labor overseas. It's called greed. Boston musicians, in general, should know better than to work for so little, but these students are inexperienced and so "hungry to play." This hotel has figured out that they can take advantage of such an easy target, and I am glad that Steve Bailey has exposed them a little.

Christopher L. Taylor
Sharon

Just wanted to say congratulations on bringing ticket scalping to the forefront ("Authorities turn up heat on scalpers ," April 11 ). It is nice to see some results. I hope the police presence to enforce the anti scalping law continues throughout the season outside Fenway Park. While it won't do any good for the Katrina evacuees who paid all that money for $21 bleacher seats, it will, hopefully, help others. The exact amount paid for those two $21 tickets was $424.

Deborah J. Lacey
Stoneham

When is scalping not scalping? Recently I bought three $16 tickets for the Harlem Globetrotters that totaled $86 after all of the "fees." These looters should be put under the same umbrella as those outside Fenway Park. Is there a difference?

Paul R. Evans
Gloucester

What is the crime here? Nobody is forced to purchase the tickets. Compared to how pharmaceutical companies price medicines that are vital to life itself, this is nothing. If there is a crime, it might be in the way the primary venues and sports franchises monopolize the supply and control and restrict outlets. Admit One probably gets its tickets from the primary source. If that source wants to put an end to scalping, all it needs to do is offer the tickets at game time for the street price. The scalpers are practicing the virtues of free enterprise market capitalism. When did that become a crime?

Dan Tanner
Westborough

I really wish the Red Sox would take a page from the Patriots and cancel all season tickets for people who sell them to ticket brokers. I find it hard to believe that the Red Sox do not have a master list of all season ticket holders and can't simply do some basic detective work on any major ticket broker's website and compare. If they do not have the resources on their staff, I would willingly give up some of my spare time to do this for them. It is not hard to put two and two together.

I am not sure what the reasoning is behind the Red Sox not doing this. It cannot be fear that the tickets would go unsold, because if season tickets five rows behind the Red Sox dugout become available, they are not going to stay available for long.

Eric Solomon
Randolph

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