How Shiny Is Too Much?

“Bechadrei Charedim” in an article titled שלא שינו את לבושם: האדמו”ר מצאנז נגד ‘בעקיטשעס עם נצנצים’ – בחצרות חסידים quotes the Tzanzer Rebbe warning his Chassidim against wearing shiny Bekeshes:

בין הדברים והמנהגים ציין האדמו”ר כי על כל אחד לנהוג לפי אבותיו ואין לשנות שום דבר ממסורת אבות. לסימוכין הביא את אשר כתוב על בני ישראל שיצאו ממצרים כי לא שינו את לבושם, שמם ולשונם.

“לאחרונה אני רואה אנשים עם בעקיטשעס נוצצים, שטריימלך גבוהים ומשקפיים מוזרים, לא זו הייתה דרכינו. נוסעים שבע שעות בשביל לבחור בעקיטשע, לאן הגענו?”

Continue reading at Bechadrei…

 

Mechanization Leads to Inequality – and That’s a Good Thing!

The division of labor is the outcome of man’s conscious reaction to the multiplicity of natural conditions. On the other hand, it is itself a factor bringing about differentiation. It assigns to the various geographic areas specific functions in the complex of the processes of production. It makes some areas urban, others rural; it locates the various branches of manufacturing, mining, and agriculture in different places. Still more important, however, is the fact that it intensifies the innate inequality of men. Exercise and practice of specific tasks adjust individuals better to the requirements of their performance; men develop some of their inborn faculties and stunt the development of others. Vocational types emerge, people become specialists.

The division of labor splits the various processes of production into minute tasks, many of which can be performed by mechanical devices. It is this fact that made the use of machinery possible and brought about the amazing improvements in technical methods of production. Mechanization is the fruit of the division of labor, its most beneficial achievement, not its motive and fountain spring. Power-driven specialized machinery could be employed only in a social environment under the division of labor. Every step forward on the road toward the use of more specialized, more refined, and more productive machines requires a further specialization of tasks.

Mises, Economic Freedom and Interventionism

Ron Paul: How to Really Solve the American Illegal Immigration Problem

Read it here.

An excerpt:

While preventing those here illegally from being able to gain employment may appeal to many who would like to protect American jobs, E-Verify is the worst possible solution. It is a police state non-solution, as it would require the rest of us legal American citizens to carry a biometric national ID card connected to a government database to prove that the government allows us to work. A false positive would result in financial disaster for millions of American families, as one would be forced to fight a faceless government bureaucracy to correct the mistake. Want to put TSA in charge of deciding if you are eligible to work?

How to tackle the real immigration problem? Eliminate incentives for those who would come here to live off the rest of us, and make it easier and more rational for those who wish to come here legally to contribute to our economy. No walls, no government databases, no biometric national ID cards. But not a penny in welfare for immigrants. It’s really that simple.