Chadarnook said:
Ah yes, attack the source and not the facts it provides.
Albuquerque Tribune July 29th, 2002.
According to the video you have yet to watch, the costs are $1 for every $30 spent by consumers, which is one dollar more than I'd like to pay.
The April 25th 2001 issue of the Detroit News reported that:
The Orthodox Union, which uses the (U) symbol, reportedly takes in over $20,000,000 a year.
The eBiz esure reported that the global kosher tax was on $165 billion worth of food, which was up $45 billion the last year (1996)
Cost of plane tickets?
I want you to take a close look at the consistency of your figures.
The
largest by far certifier takes in $20 mil a year, with 400,000 products certified. That's, in other words, $5,000 per year per product according to the Detroit News. Slightly more than I expected, but far from that.
Their website notes that there are nearly 400 certifiers - which would mean that all of them need to take in nearly as much as OU in order to meet your $6 billion figure. That, with nearly half of all certified kosher products I've seen (out of a representative sample) bearing the (U), and OU badmouthing them ever-so-politely by saying that their marks are less recognized (ergo, not worth as much). The Detroit newspaper article cites OU as certifying 75% of all kosher products.
Then you say $1 in $30 spent by consumers... which is not $6 billion either. Consumers in the US spend nearly $700 billion per year on food.
Your figures have serious inconsistency issues.
But here's why. They're coming from different sorts of estimates. $1 in $30 is an estimated cost increase, based out of somebody's estimation of how much cost the different processes (sanitation, slaughtering techniques, documentation of ingredients, and using separate equipment) require vs the cheapest methods to do so,
on kosher products. So's the $6 billion.
As to the "Jew Tax" going into the pockets of rabbis? ~$5,000 per year per product for the most widely recognized labels... and almost certainly less than $30 million overall given OU's position in the industry. In a word, not only is this a "tax" you don't have to pay, but it is a small fraction of a cent per can, just as I said - at least for large producers.
$6 billion? Doesn't come from direct measurement, and isn't being paid from any group to any other group.
Chadarnook said:
Death by a thousand needles? Hell yes, I'm surprised, and so has everyone I have told of this. I have yet to find a single person who claimed to know of it beforehand.
Never met a single person who knew WTF a (U) or (K) on the label meant? Chad, ya need to get out more in the world.
Chadarnook said:
Now, can you address the moral aspect of this problem?
What moral aspect? What problem?
There
is no problem, Chad, you're trying to make one up where it doesn't exist.