Truth never dies. The ages come and go. The mountains wear away, the stars retire. Destruction lays earth’s mighty cities low; And empires, states and dynasties expire; But caught and handed onward by the wise, Truth never dies.
Though unreceived and scoffed at through the years; Though made the butt of ridicule and jest; Though held aloft for mockery and jeers, Denied by those of transient power possessed, Insulted by the insolence of lies, Truth never dies.
It answers not. It does not take offense, But with a mighty silence bides its time; As some great cliff that braves the elements And lifts through all the storms its head sublime, It ever stands, uplifted by the wise; And never dies.
As rests the Sphinx amid Egyptian sands; As looms on high the snowy peak and crest; As firm and patient as Gibraltar stands, So truth, unwearied, waits the era blessed When men shall turn to it with great surprise. Truth never dies.
There is little question in most academic research that increases in the minimum wage lead to increases in unemployment. The debatable issue is the magnitude of the increase. An issue not often included in minimum wage debates is the substitution effects of minimum wage increases. The substitution effect might explain why Business for a Fair Minimum Wage, a national network of business owners and executives, argues for higher minimum wages. Let’s look at substitution effects in general.
When the price of anything rises, people seek substitutes and measures to economize. When gasoline prices rise, people seek to economize on the usage of gas by buying smaller cars. If the price of sugar rises, people seek cheaper sugar substitutes. If prices of goods in one store rise, people search for other stores. This last example helps explain why some businessmen support higher minimum wages. If they could impose higher labor costs on their less efficient competition, it might help drive them out of business. That would enable firms that survive to charge higher prices and earn greater profits.
There’s a more insidious substitution effect of higher minimum wages. You see it by putting yourself in the place of a businessman who has to pay at least the minimum wage to anyone he hires. Say that you are hiring typists. There are some who can type 40 words per minute and others, equal in every other respect, who can type 80 words per minute. Whom would you hire? I’m guessing you’d hire the more highly skilled. Thus, one effect of the minimum wage is discrimination against the employment of lower-skilled workers. In some places, the minimum wage is $15 an hour. But if a lower-skilled worker could offer to work for, say, $8 an hour, you might hire him. In addition to discrimination against lower-skilled workers, the minimum wage denies them the chance of sharpening their skills and ultimately earning higher wages. The most effective form of training for most of us is on-the-job training.
An even more insidious substitution effect of minimum wages can be seen from a few quotations. During South Africa’s apartheid era, racist unions, which would never accept a black member, were the major supporters of minimum wages for blacks. In 1925, the South African Economic and Wage Commission said, “The method would be to fix a minimum rate for an occupation or craft so high that no Native would be likely to be employed.” Gert Beetge, the secretary of the racist Building Workers’ Union, complained, “There is no job reservation left in the building industry, and in the circumstances, I support the rate for the job (minimum wage) as the second-best way of protecting our white artisans.” “Equal pay for equal work” became the rallying slogan of the South African white labor movement. These laborers knew that if employers were forced to pay black workers the same wages as white workers, there’d be reduced the incentive to hire blacks.
South Africans were not alone in their minimum wage conspiracy against blacks. After a bitter 1909 strike by the Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen and Enginemen in the U.S., an arbitration board decreed that blacks and whites were to be paid equal wages. Union members expressed their delight, saying, “If this course of action is followed by the company and the incentive for employing the Negro thus removed, the strike will not have been in vain.”
Our nation’s first minimum wage law, the Davis-Bacon Act of 1931, had racist motivation. During its legislative debate, its congressional supporters made such statements as, “That contractor has cheap colored labor that he transports, and he puts them in cabins, and it is a labor of that sort that is in competition with white labor throughout the country.” During hearings, American Federation of Labor President William Green complained, “Colored labor is being sought to demoralize wage rates.”
Today’s stated intentions behind the support of minimum wages are nothing like yesteryears. However, intentions are irrelevant. In the name of decency, we must examine the effects.
We must wait for Moshiach to build the Holy Temple. Fact or myth?
The Holy Temple will descend ready-made from heaven. Fact or myth?
Building the Holy Temple will cause World War III. Fact or myth?
Rabbi Chaim Richman provides the answers from the sources of Torah wisdom to these questions and many more in this multi-part series which will bust all of the myths that have come to clutter Jewish thought concerning the building of the Holy Temple and its significance to the entire world.
Head covering for Jewish women. Rabbi Ya’aqob Menashe speaks on this all important subject of wigs, scarves and hats in a most endearing manner. Is a scarf better? Is a wig better? Scarves, hats, wigs, sheitels, tichels. Preferred or allowed? Sephardi and Ashkenazi.A must watch. See the entire video at http://www.nonstoptorah.com
Note: Lew Rockwell recently linked to a story on artifacts discovered near the Dead Sea, which prompted the following.
As part of its campaign of hegemony, Rome occupied Judea in 63 B.C. and stuck around for 376 years.
Like the Hellenists who previously occupied Judea – resistance against whom is now being commemorated during the festival of Chanukah – Rome also infringed upon the inhabitants’ religious traditions. For instance, it arrogated the power to appoint the Jewish high priest. (In a contemporary context, imagine Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi declaring the right to appoint the next pope. “Il mio governo, la mia chiesa!” could be the slogan. [“My government, my church!”])
In 39, Caligula decreed the construction of his likeness in every temple within the empire. Not keen on desecrating their sanctuary with an idol, the Jews alone didn’t follow the decree.
Caligula didn’t take the news well and threatened to destroy the Second Temple. (In 586 B.C., the Babylonians destroyed the First Temple built by King Solomon.) “So you are the enemies of the gods, the only people who refuse to recognize my divinity,” he said. Praetorian tribune Cassius Chaerea led an assassination of Caligula in 41, which prevented a possibly genocidal reaction by him against the Jews.
Procurator Gessius Florus expropriated the Temple’s treasury in 66 and sparked a rebellion lasting until 70. Emperor Titus destroyed the Second Temple after suppressing the rebellion. (Today’s Western Wall in Jerusalem is a remnant of the Second Temple.)
Hadrian became emperor in 118. His policies included the construction of a pagan temple in Jerusalem and deporting Jews to North Africa.
Shimon Bar Kokhba led another rebellion from 132-135. Rabbi Akiva ben Joseph supported the rebellion and, thinking its leader the Messiah, gave him the name “Bar Kokhba” (Son of the Star, in reference to Numbers 24:17). Akiva was a shepherd who had no interaction with Judaism until he was 40 and then became one of the foremost Tannaim (sages).
Hadrian crushed the rebellion with a dozen legions. He then renamed Jerusalem “Aelius Capitolinus,” renamed Judea “Palestina,” and criminalized Sabbath observance and religious teaching.
Rabbi Akiva continued to teach.
When one of his peers asked why he violated Hadrian’s prohibition, Akiva responded with a parable:
To what is the matter like? To a fox who was walking along the banks of a stream, and saw some fish gathering together to move from one place to another. He said to them, “From what are you fleeing?” They answered: “From nets which men are bringing against us.” He said to them: “Let it be your pleasure to come up on the dry land, and let us, I and you, dwell together, even as my father dwelt with your fathers.” They replied: “Are you the animal who they say is the shrewdest of animals? You are not clever, but a fool! For if we are afraid in this place which is our life-element, how much more so in a place which is our death-element!” So also it is with us: If now, while we sit and study Torah, in which it is written, “For this is your life and the length of your days” (Deuteronomy 30:20) we are in such a plight, how much more so if we neglect it?
The Romans soon found out about Rabbi Akiva’s activities and executed him. As they tore his flesh with iron rakes, he began reciting the Shema: “Hear, O Israel: The L_rd our G_d is one L_rd” (Deuteronomy 6:4). (The Romans executed another rabbi by wrapping him in a Torah scroll and setting him on fire.)
What lesson should Jews draw from this chapter in their history? The State isn’t our friend.
Like the Hellenists who previously occupied Judea – resistance against whom is now being commemorated during the festival of Chanukah – Rome also infringed upon the inhabitants’ religious traditions. For instance, it arrogated the power to appoint the Jewish high priest. (In a contemporary context, imagine Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi declaring the right to appoint the next pope. “Il mio governo, la mia chiesa!” could be the slogan. [“My government, my church!”])
