On the money.........

It seems there is no end to greed in the ranks of the rich in Oz.

Example One:
"ALMOST 400,000 millionaires are receiving the age pension and 51,200 people in the nation's top income bracket also are getting the welfare payment.
As the Government prepares to lift the pension rate for the poorest single age pensioners, it has emerged tens of thousands of people receiving the payment are very well off.
And a key welfare group is calling for a crackdown on the rich receiving the pension, which would include homes worth more than $1 million in the age pension means test.
Research carried out for the Brotherhood of St Laurence has found the age pension system is helping the rich because the means test exempts the family home.
Other very wealthy retirees are able to fiddle their income so they can receive a part-pension.
The research by NATSEM shows 14 per cent of the nation's 2.8 million pensioners have an average net worth of more than $1.6 million when the value of their home is taken into account.
But even if the value of the home is disregarded, 51,200 age pensioners have incomes that place them in the highest income bracket."

Example Two:

"Unions say large pay increases for the top executives at Pacific Brands are obscene in the light of the company's job cuts this week.

A total of 1,850 jobs will be axed after the company, which owns brands including Bonds and Berlei, posted a first-half loss of almost $150 million and said it was moving manufacturing off shore.

Last year the firm's 13 top executives were awarded pay rises, with chief executive Sue Morphett's pay going up from around $680,000 to more than $1.8 million."

"The Bill, which was approved last June, includes a rise in CEO Sue Morphet's package from $685,775 to $1,860,649, including a staggering seven-fold increase in her "incentive payments" - blood money for slashing nearly 1850 jobs.

Her bonus was approved despite her overseeing a 45 per cent fall in the share price in the six months leading up to the pay deals."

Example Three:

"OUTGOING Telstra boss Sol Trujillo will head home to the US with a payout estimated at more than $20 million.

The man who boasted about personally axing 10,000 Telstra jobs will quit as CEO in June.

Telstra's share price has slumped from just over $5 when Mr Trujillo took over the company in 2005 to yesterday's price of $3.68 - a decline of more than 25 per cent.

Mum and dad shareholders who bought T2 shares for $7.40 are way below the price they were enticed to buy the shares and barely breaking even on the $3.60 T3 float.

Officially, Telstra says the 57-year-old chief executive is entitled to just one year's annual base salary, worth $3 million.

But Mr Trujillo received an annual pay packet of $13.4 million, $25,800 a week, based on performance bonuses.

The value of Mr Trujillo's golden parachute will depend on bonuses he receives for the current financial year and the start of next financial year. His total departure package will not be calculated and made public until August, according to Telstra."