U.S. Sugar chief executive Robert Buker called the deal "monumental" but said he was saddened to see the demise of his company. Its 1,700 employees, including those who work in the mill and operate the cane-cutting machinery, will lose their jobs, though the state is offering them retraining.

"We built a company that right now is the pillar of the agriculture community in Florida," Buker said. "Because of that, I stand here today with mixed feelings. ... On the other hand, I'm excited about what we're doing here today."

The entire American sugar industry has struggled with stiff competition from imported sugar.

At least 33 mills have closed nationwide in the past decade as producers try to remain competitive in a market flush with sugar from the likes of Brazil and Thailand, which have lower labor costs than U.S. producers, said Phillip Hayes of the American Sugar Alliance."

First of all Robert Buker probably stands to make a mint off of this deal so to heck with US employees, the state of Florida will retrain them with Tax dollars. For what will they train them? Most likely just enough to be WalMart greeters. That's just great.

Second of all, what business does the State of Florida have using taxpayer dollars to fund this deal? The Greens are all over this saying how great it is that they brought down a pillar of the Florida agriculture industry and sent the good paying jobs overseas.

Republican Governor Crist (who has been mentioned as a possible VP candidate) declared the agreement "as monumental as the creation of our nation's first national park, Yellowstone." Now tell me that there's a difference between the Dems and the Republicans.

Third, Here we go again. Just wait, when inflation spirals out of control in the countries we import sugar from and the dollar continues to decline, imported sugar will cost 1,000 times what it costs now but we will need to keep importing it because we can grow our own because of this stupid deal.

Who makes out on this deal? The C Levels of US Sugar make out like bandits and laugh all the way to the bank that they scammed the state of Florida out of $1.7 billion dollars for a business in an increasingly competitive market. Gov Crist comes off looking like an environmental hero and I'll bet that US Sugar gave generously to his campaign, (or the executives did anyway as mentioned before on this blog, companies contributions are capped but there are ways around that).

So for the benefit of a few, 1,700 Americans lose their jobs and the tax payers are bilked for $1.7 Billion dollars. This the modern America, get yours if you can and to heck the rest of them. Or ask not what you can do for your country but what your country can do for you.