Milken Damaged Markets

In all the publicity about Michael Milken and his half-billion-dollar salary and bonus for 1987 and his millions in contributions to charity, the news media have overlooked the damage that he may have done to this nation’s stock markets. People seem to forget that the primary purpose of the stock market is to give an investor the opportunity to own a piece of a business and to get a fair return for that investment.

Milken, Ivan F. Boesky and others may have made millions by taking advantage of inside information and by cheating investors in the market. Their actions have cast a doubt on the integrity of the market and have driven away many investors who should be the lifeblood of the market. A sad commentary is that Milken and his former firm, Drexel Burnham Lambert, could have made millions with high-yield or “junk” bonds without doing anything wrong.

ROBERT Q. PARSONS

San Gabriel