Long of shares
OTHER ways with ownership and man- agement are now being canvassed in Bri- tain by Senator Russell Long from Louisiana: 'Populism,' he calls them, 'with- out Robin Hood.' That is a graceful reference to his father, Senator Huey (The Kingfish') Long, who brought to the de- pressed Deep South the remedies of Sher- wood Forest. The son, with less spectacle, has put through Congress the laws which help Americans own shares in the com- panies where they work, through Em- ployee Stock Ownership Pools. There are some 7,000 of these Esops (pronounced as in Fables), and far higher proportions of shares are owned through them than through comparable British schemes. In Weirton Steel, a successful company in a hard-pressed industry, the Esop members own all the shares. The difference from the British schemes is that Esops have power to borrow. They can therefore buy a significant shareholding, and see their loan paid off, over time, by payments such as those made by British companies to let their staff buy shares. A company seeking new capital need not go to investment institutions: it has the choice of funding itself from an Esop. The Senator is here to talk Esops, his hearers will include the Financial Secretary to the Treasury and the Conservatives' finance committee. . . . What a slogan for a pre-election Budget: 'Esops are Fabulous.'
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