Don Phillipson wrote:
"KW" wrote in message
ps.com...

In older England the merchant class had many easy-going traditions.
One tradition was that a respectable tradesman would never seek
business but wait for it to come to him. Another tradition was . . .
The Jews' stores became bazaars, forerunners of our modern department
stores, and the old English custom of one store for one line of goods
was broken up. The Jew went after trade, pursued it, persuaded it. He
was the originator of "a quick turnover and small profits." He
originated the installment plan. . . .
As a matter of fact he was playing the game to get it
all in his own hands-which he has practically done.

1. When trade was regulated (i.e. maximum
prices were fixed by the town guild)

That didnt happen.

it made perfect sense for businessmen to wait for trade.
This characterized English business up to the 17th century.

Fantasy.

2. Except in seaports, foreigners were
rare in England before the 19th century.

Thanks for that completely superfluous proof that you have
never ever had a ****ing clue about anything at all, ever.

Pity about the Normans, Vikings, Romans etc etc etc.

The most obvious foreigners were Scotsmen resident in
England (permissible only after the Act of Union approx. 1700), as
noticed with amused contempt by commentators like Samuel Johnson.

Pity about his origins.

3. The pioneer of the department store in England was
Gordon Selfridge, a foreigner (American) but not Jewish.
It was called "department" store because it included
various departments for such items as clothing, food
and furniture, all under one roof. Traditional businesses
(Jewish or not) did not sell (e.g.) clothing and furniture
under the same roof.

4. The poster's suggestion that "the Jew" now controls
retail trade appears challenged by Arab ownership of
retail businesses in England today. (Of course both
groups are Semites; but someone born in Arabia is
more obviously foreign than someone born in Bradford.)