Business and Ethics After September 11

Abstract

On September 17, 2001, Richard Grasso, Chairman and Chief Exec utive of the New York Stock Ex change (NYSE), presided over the resumption of equity trading only four working days after the Septem ber 11 terrorist attach had halted trading indefinitely and created a national sense of physical and eco nomic vulnerability. Sentiment on the trading floor and in nearby offices, where many floors, des fa, and corners were still layered with dust as if trading had ceased thou sands of years before, supported defiance of terrorism with a mani festation of economic resolve. Suggesting that Grasso 's de termination as the leader of the free market was morally valiant, one trader expressed the common feeling that, If the marketplace were to fold or blunder, we would be giving the terrorists who did this their third target. To a reporter who noted the presence of grief counselors on the trading floor, Grasso said of himself My coun seling is this: that Monday morning 9:30 bell. l The start of trading was a return to instinct, 2 as an other trader put it, and once a ma rine sang GodBless America and the bell was rung by uniformed public servants observed by gov ernment leaders presiding with Mr. Grasso, the whole scene intimat ed that getting on with business