A New Look at Labor Day

A day to reflect on the accomplishments of working people: That's been the proud tradition since the first, unofficial, Labor Day back in 1882.

But, one of labor's greatest accomplishments has gone largely unrecognized. Since the end of World War II, working people have bought up a huge chunk of big business. They now own a piece of just about everything in business, from multinational corporations to small companies that build mini-malls in their neighborhoods.

It may be the greatest economic transformation since the Industrial Revolution; management guru Peter Drucker calls it "The Pension Fund Revolution."

To get a sense of the transformation, consider this: At the end of 2001, America's 242 billionaires had assets totalling about $800 billion. That's a sizable amount, certainly, but working people had assets of $11.8 trillion in pension and mutual funds. That's almost 15 times as much as the billionaires.

Most working people contribute only modest amounts to their retirement plans, but there are simply so many of us that our collective nest egg grew very quickly. If you're still not sure, try this on your calculator: Multiply a contribution of $1,000 per year by one million working people. Answer: $1 billion dollars per year. Now note there are hundreds of millions of working people here and in other countries. And we're contributing new money every year.

Even a relatively small number of working people can build a big fund. For example, the New York State Common Retirement Fund, with 944,000 members in or retired from state public services, had assets of $112 billion at the end of March last year. According to the Fund's annual report for 2002, about $76.6 billion of that total was invested in companies. The remainder, about $35 billion, was in bonds, mortgages, and other types of loans.

Look at the private sector and unions, too. To cite just a couple of examples, Pensions & Investments magazine estimated that General Motor's pension fund had assets of $82.5 billion and the pension fund of the Western Conference Teamsters had assets of $22.6 billion, at September 30, 2001.

This ownership of big business by working people is the result of contributions to pension funds, mutual funds, and life insurance policies with a savings component.

What does all this mean? Well, for starters, perhaps an end of complaints about the profits of corporations. After all, most of those profits go toward the retirement incomes of working people.

More complicated, though, is the relationship between working people who own a big company and other working people employed by it. How to share corporate profits -- through continuing employment and higher wages, or through higher returns to shareholders -- remains a difficult issue. Especially for those working people who lose their jobs.

On the other side of the coin, working people have bought enough stocks and shares to become the bosses of the bosses. Some pension funds have begun making that clear; CalPERS, the California Public Employees' Retirement System, has led the way in telling Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) and boards of directors that they'd better manage effectively. And, CEOs and directors listen; after all CalPERS runs the country's biggest pension fund, with assets of more than $130 billion.

One other thing: if you're a working person, you're a consumer, as well as an owner and employee. When you go shopping, there's a chance you'll buy from a business owned by yourself, your friends, or your neighbors. What's more, the clerks who take your credit card with smiles may work for you. Or, maybe the clerks own the company for which you work. Smile at them, too, just to be on the safe side!

About The Author

Robert F. Abbott explains how working people are buying up big corporations, and more, in his new book Meet the New Owners: http://www.TheNewOwners.com; abbottr@managersguide.com

Haunted House in Your Garage Halloween Party!

This Halloween you should think of doing something off the wall. Don't just have a regular Halloween Party with the costumes and refreshments. Why not have a Haunted House in your garage? It is really easy to do and not that expensive. Oh, I guess you can spend alot of money,there is nothing wrong with that, if you have it to spend, and want to. You could really get elaborate with the robotic, radio controlled and mechanical haunts or you can have just as much fun without the expense by using friends and homemade items for simple haunts that create a big scare.

Start with a clean garage. Make a sketch of what you would like to have in it, like a cemetery, etc. Use this sketch to make a list of things you will need. One of the things you will need is black plastic. This can be purchased at Lowe's. It works great to make temporary walls or a maze. Finish making this list, then buy or make what you will need.

You will also need a few friends to volunteer to work/play in the haunted garage. This is usually not a problem, because they will have alot of fun doing this.

Once you have bought or made the haunts, figure out where you are going to place them in the haunted garage. Then tell the friends or let them choose the haunt or scare they will be doing and have them "dress the part" for the haunt or scare. Let them use their imagination on how they will scare the people coming through the garage.

A couple of nights before the "Haunted Garage Party" you will need to put up the walls or maze for the haunted garage. Set up the haunts that need to be constructed. Add lighting such as black lights, and strobe lights. Blue lights work well in cemetery scenes. Scary sound tracks are also good to use.

And that is all there is to making a Haunted Garage. A great and different Halloween Party that will be talked about for along time. It may even start a tradition. Someone different could do a Haunted Garage the next year. That way everyone can have a turn and see how creative they can be.

By the way, you can still have refreshments after everyone has gone through the Haunted Garage. I have made a Haunted House in my 2 car garage for a Halloween Party and everyone had so much fun.

If you liked this article and want more detailed information about how to build a Haunted Garage then I invite you to check out my eBook I have written on this subject. The site is: http://funhauntedgarage.com

This article may be freely reprinted or distributed in its entirety in any Ezine, newsletter, blog, or website. The author's name,bio and website links must remain intact and be included with every reproduction.