Jack Teich Was a Wealthy Businessman. Then He Was Kidnapped

Jack Teich was a wealthy businessman from Long Island, working for his family company, when, on November 12, 1974, he was taken from his driveway, shoved into the back of a car, and driven to an apartment in the Bronx.

There, two men held him captive in a dark closet, chained his wrists and neck, and set a ransom of $750,000 ($4.7 million in today’s dollars) for his release.

They asked Teich to confirm that he was Jewish, which he was, and wanted him to confess to being a member of the Jewish Defense League, which he was not. The men insisted that he and the Jewish Defense League were plotting to kill the leader of the Palestinian Liberation Organization.

An arrest wasn’t made for two years. Most of the ransom money is still missing.

Teich’s story has grim relevance for many Jews in America today, who have faced mounting hatred and anti-Semitic incidents. In his chilling retelling of Teich’s kidnapping, Daniel Edward Rosen highlights the tragic consequences of justifying violence against American Jews. You can read the entire piece here.

Monetary policy is designed to stabilize disruptions from demand shocks—events that affect demand for goods and services. But in real time, it can be hard to distinguish between demand shocks and supply shocks—triggered by events such as Covid-19, the Russia–Ukraine war, and yes, tariffs—which affect the ability to produce goods and services.

This is why the Fed should shift its focus away from inflation to the total dollar value of spending in the economy, argues Patrick Horan, a research fellow at the Mercatus Center. He explains what an approach to a nominal gross domestic product (NGDP) target would look like here.

New Yorkers are frustrated: only 14% think the city is headed in the right direction, and more than a quarter are considering leaving or have decided to do so. But New York’s electoral system blocks change. Citing his new Manhattan Institute report, John Ketcham makes the case for proportional representation and multi-seat districts as a way to revive local party competition, improve representation, and foster pro-growth factions from both major parties into the governing majorities the city needs.

New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani says he wants to address the city’s mental-health crisis. But his ideas for doing so are little more than feel-good wellness efforts, writes Manhattan Institute Paulson Policy Analyst Carolyn D. Gorman. “Peer-led programs,” “coping skills training,” and anti-stigma campaigns won’t deliver the substantive treatment that the seriously mentally ill desperately need.

“At age fourteen, I informed my family that I no longer wanted to be called “Ronnie.” I was to be called ‘Ron.’ Many in my family, especially my mother, couldn’t get out of the habit of calling me ‘Ronnie.’ So, clearly, they were deadnaming me. Luckily, we weren’t subject to something like the proposed Colorado law.

Maybe my family’s custody could have been challenged. I don’t think the state would have had a chance against my mother in that fight.”

Photo credits: New York Daily News via Getty Images