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MegaProcrastination says:
Aw, this just gives me warm fuzzies! It's so wonderful to see a story of GOOD for a change!
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venusvegasvada says:
Good for you. Well done.
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overthehill5 says:
It shows that the Grenda people in Australia have big hearts.
A good lesson for people all over the world to show compassion for the folks who helped grow the company...The only thing we leave this earth with is our character and the Grenda family sure has that...
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inketolstoy says:
Still waiting for the story about the socialist state run company giving out bonuses or profit sharing for all employees.
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signseeker1717 replies:
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While you're "waiting" for a story that fits your political agenda, and worrying about "our taxes" you might try reading THIS story:

THIS COMPANY IS IN AUSTRALIA.
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SandmanUSMC says:
Romney and other US executives would thank them by pocketing the money for themselves and shipping out the manufacturing jobs overseas. All they care about is the balance sheets, not the people who actually brought success to the company.

Vote only for Presidents who bring jobs home and keep them home!
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tiredofliberals replies:
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knewster Agreed Abolish the unions
MegaProcrastination replies:
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""""only CONSUMERS willing to pay lots more for the same items made here can change that.
NO ONE is going to pay $50 for a shirt made here that costs $9.99 made in China.""""

See, this is where from my perspective people are thinking wrongly about the whole Made in USA thing. Just because something's made here doesn't by default make it more expensive. Case in point: Band-Aid brand bandages, made in Brazil, one box $2.50; Nexcare brand bandages, made in USA, one box $1.50. Granted, this doesn't hold for every U.S. made product but it does for many of them. I know because I buy everything I can U.S.made.

As for saying "NO ONE" will pay more for U.S. made that's also not true. Even on a $40,000 a year income I'll go out of my way to get U.S. made and sometimes pay more for U.S. made goods but in the end they're worth it because usually they are better quality.

Can a truly poor person afford a $50 shirt? No, they can't, and this is where a large problem with our economy comes in. People complain about how much U.S. workers expect to earn but look at how much it costs to live beyond anything but poverty. The cheapest new vehicles run $15,000, used about $7,000. A small house costs at least $100,000. Most people I know have mortgage payments of $700 a month, earning about $15 an hour IF they're lucky, many are earning less than that. Figure a $250 car payment, a $700 house payment and right there is almost $1,000 a month. Add to that utilities, groceries, insurances, etc. and there's very little, if any money, left.

I am actually one of the very fortunate for being in as low of an income bracket as we are. Our mortgage is only $450 a month and most months we pay extra. It's that low only because the land we live on was quit claimed to us by my husband's parents and we put a well and manufactured home on it. We paid off our car, which is now eight years old, out of money I inherited from my dad. Even with that low of a mortgage payment, we would never have made it these last years if we hadn't paid off the car when we did.

Another huge help in our finances is the fact we don't spend money on a lot of gadgets. We don't pay $100+ a month cell phone bills, we don't have cable and a big TV, we rarely eat out. I don't buy myself much in the way of clothes and we don't go on vacations. We pay $90 a month for our land line with free long distance and DSL internet package. We sometimes stream videos over the internet. Our hobbies are inexpensive things like gardening or my hubby's projects in his shop. We live a fairly simple life. At the same time if capitalism had to depend on the likes of our household to survive it would have gone extinct a long time ago.
retiredgustav replies:
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tiredofliberals... You got that right. Get rid of the unions, the 40 hour work week, the minimum wage, child labor laws, eminent domain, the EPA along with all of the laws reuglating wall street and banks. Only then will America be great and be able to compete with China and the rest of the 3rd world.
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RichZubaty says:
Good for them. We need owners like this is the USA. Too bad the workers didn't just buy the place outright through an employee stock ownership plan.
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jose_z1 says:
In the US, had the money been divided up evenly among all 1,800 employees...
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$16,000,000 / 1,800 = $8,888 * 70% = $6,221 after taxes.
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Still, not many CEO's share their earnings.. and that's money that each Ausie employee did not have before.. so good for them
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Samlv says:
I noticed that is not even 10% of the sale price.

Now, what they did was a good thing, but, what if they had negotiated employment for all of the staff for not less than two years with a two year full pay/benefit severance minimum?
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AOCGUY replies:
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If you read the article all employees were retained by the new owner. Can't imagine many business owners doing anything remotely like this. I am working now and have worked for some great small businesses but I haven't seen anything like this. And the owner certainly didn't have to do anything.
morellok replies:
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The staff will keep their jobs under the new owner, Ventura, the newspaper said.
Sounds like that was part of the deal.
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jose_z1 says:
AU$30,000 = USD$31,800 !?!?!
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The Australian dollar is stronger than the US dollar.
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you_MAY_be_right says:
I wonder how many American CEOs will take notice and follow suit?
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Samlv replies:
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You've got to be kidding. $16MM split between 16 top executives, or even fewer than that, might happen.
signseeker1717 replies:
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They're more likely to continue to take platinum parachutes and run.