Noted in the Jerusalem Post

In an article in Vanity Fair about the world’s “most powerful people” over 50 of the 100 listed were Jews.

Such recognition is a mixed blessing among the Jews concerned about ancient libelous canards of insidious Jewish power and conspiracy.

Thousands of books try to account for this influence. In her most recent book, Jews and Power, (Ruth) Wisse accounts “for the achievement of Jews through the centuries,” describing it, she says, “as a consequence of their having to develop their powers of adaptation to an extraordinary degree.”

Yuri Slezkine in “The Jewish Century” noted, ” Modernization is about everyone becoming urban, mobile, literate, articulate, intellectually intricate, physically fastidious, and occupationally flexible. It is about learning how to cultivate people and symbols, not fields or herds. It is about pursuing wealth for the sake of learning, learning for the sake of wealth, and both wealth and learning for their own sake. It is about transforming peasants and princes into merchants and priests, replacing inherited priviledge with acquired prestige, and dismantling social estates for the benefit of individual, nuclear families, and book-reading tribes.”

Yuri pens the reason for Jewish success in America and the modern world clearly and profoundly.

I have two other related theories. The Jewish religion worships the “word” of God, they worship a book. The religious services wrap the “Torah” in rituals and respect. They have thus placed a high respect on reading and learning. Jewish women were learning to read long before most women in other western ethnic and religious groups. This makes the Jews a natural fit for the information age.

Secondly, and this is somewhat related to Wisse’s point, two thousand years of violent persecution and genocide have somewhat ‘naturally selected’ the surviving Jews to adapt to an inhospitable world. It is a little sad and ironic to think that our worst enemies may have had some impact on our success in the modern world.

The Ain’t No Such Thing As A Free Lumch

Jeff Jacoby gets it, even if none of the politicians in either party do, From his article in the Boston Globe about the tax rebate:

But where did that $800 come from in the first place? Does the federal government have a warehouse full of surplus money it can spread around when recession clouds appear on the horizon? Of course not. Washington already spends more money than it has; just three months into the new fiscal year, the budget deficit is up to $107 billion. And since no one is proposing to pay for a stimulus package by curtailing other spending, the only way Uncle Sam is going to come up with your $800 is to borrow it.

But if Washington really has the power to restore vim and verve to the nation’s economy by simply moving money around, why not do so all the time? Why should there ever be an economic slowdown if government spending can prevent it?

Here’s why: Because the business cycle hasn’t been repealed. Because booms are still followed by busts. Because politicians and policymakers cannot make a $14 trillion economy jump through hoops, particularly not by going even more deeply into debt.

True, tax cuts instead of tax rebates would mean no kiss in the mail. Most politicians would rather treat you to a free lunch than stimulate you to work, invest, and take more risks.