09/07/10 Stockholm, Sweden – Although first observed by a New York City union in 1882, Labor Day didn’t become an actual federal holiday until 1894. That’s when President Grover Cleveland sought to make good with the average working stiff just six days after the tragically violent Pullman Strike.
Even counting from its later official inception, Labor Day remains a potent 116-year tradition that honors the importance of American workers in providing the backbone of the nation’s economy. Today, though — with so many goods purchased in America produced abroad — perhaps it would make more sense to celebrate elsewhere.
Rocky Vega
Rocky Vega is publisher of The Daily Reckoning. Previously, he was founding publisher of UrbanTurf and RFID Update, which he operated from Brazil, Chile, and Puerto Rico, and associate publisher of FierceFinance. He specialized in direct marketing at MBI, facilitated MIT Sloan School of Management programs, and has been featured on CBS. Vega graduated with honors from Harvard University, where he was on the board of Let’s Go Publications and directed business programs involving McKinsey, Goldman Sachs, and Harvard Business School faculty. He is also enrolled at the Stockholm School of Economics.
The Daily Reckoning is your premier source for making sense of the news Washington and Wall Street generate. Each business day, The Daily Reckoning calls on its stable of world-class writers and thinkers to show you how to get ahead.
Start your 100% FREE subscription to The Daily Reckoning today and you’ll get a free research report, “How to Survive the Fall of Social Security.” Simply enter your email address below to get your free report and join over 495,000 worldwide Daily Reckoning subscribers!
We Respect Your Privacy and We will
Never Share or Sell Your Email Address
“The origins of Labour Day in Canada can be traced back to April 14, 1872 when a parade was staged in support of the Toronto Typographical Union’s strike for a 58-hour work-week:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labour_Day
So we need to shift to flip the house, or refinance or get an equity loan and live off the proceeds day?