Anyway, living in the present, more or less, the FEElosophers* over at the Foundation for Economic Education have seen fit to pair these two articles: Israel's kibbutzim swap socialist ideals for personal profit in struggle to survive
In the past 20 years the population of Israel's 270 kibbutzim has fallen by about a quarter to 116,000. Three times as many people are leaving as joining.
Most of those who go are young, leaving behind a population with an average age approaching 55 years. As a result, most of the communities can no longer afford the cradle-to-grave support for their members, with potentially tragic results for many older people who put in a lifetime of work in the belief that they would spend a secure retirement in the bosom of the kibbutz.
Along with Individualism, by Ludwig von Mises, which, as much as I agree with it, appears to have been written in a hurry (unlike my posts), but at least it's a quick read.
*An article for my left-leaning friends - page one is blank, it's the damnedest thing - scroll down.
Here's a book for you too: Rebels Against the Future: The Luddites and Their War on the Industrial Revolution : Lessons for the Computer Age (A Left-wing history of early 19th century England - turnabout's fair play)
by Kirkpatrick Sale, a very compelling writer - I read it and I hated every word - though he has a problem with anachronism.
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