For example, Kramig Insulation has been in business since 1896 and is headquartered in Lockland, Ohio, with revenues now over $25 million. Were it not for ESOPs, Kramig would have either continued to be owned by two well-to-do businessmen or sold to a private equity group out of state. Favorable tax treatment of ESOP companies, however, has instead allowed our company to be 100% employee owned, of which almost 20% is owned by females and minorities.

Kramig employs an average of 300 employees a week, both union and non-union. No participant has ever had to invest one penny of their cash in the company. Moving to an ESOP has had the following outcomes:

1. Meaningful retirement for "Main Street" employees.

2. Higher levels of employee performance through an ownership culture.

3. An opportunity for all employees to have ownership in a private business with no capital of their own put forth.

4. Retention of employees during economic slowdowns.

5. Investment in projects such as green technology and real estate management, which have led to new hiring.

It is thus imperative that we continue the bipartisan legislative policies that incentivize such a structure.

One takeaway from an ESOP advocacy panel discussion on getting involved in government was that many Congressional representatives do not even know what an ESOP or the current outstanding ESOP legislation, which makes the need to Remaining Vigilant even more important.