1. I can not really understand the Minister of Finance Avigdor Lieberman. I have known the budget department and its mental fixation for decades, but finance ministers are supposed to rise above the fixation of their officials and not be afraid of them, lest you be swallowed up in the media by leaks and slanders.
I do not understand the Minister of Finance, because in the fight against inflation there is not just one tool – the interest rate tool – which is the responsibility of the Bank of Israel. The government and the Treasury also have a very important tool in the struggle – the tool of tax cuts. The government and its finance minister have every reason in the world to exploit the tax collection surpluses of the last four months to lower taxes, like the excise tax on fuel – one of the highest in the Western world. And what’s going on? Nothing happens.
Aside from lowering the excise tax to just one quarter, the government is not tweeting following the recent fuel price hike. I understand that finance officials are afraid of an economic slowdown, and for them, reserves should be maintained for a rainy day. But where have you been in recent months when the collection surplus of tens of billions of shekels has accumulated and you have continued to talk about “saving the coffers”?
This is a vicious circle: price increases lead to an increase in interest rates, which suppresses purchasing power and leads to an economic slowdown. What the hell are they thinking there in the Treasury? That rising fuel and electricity prices will not eventually be chained to consumers? Were the eyes of the finance officials so far from seeing? So why not do the minimum required and lower taxes in the right places, like excise on fuel? Why act exactly the opposite in some areas and raise taxes on all sorts of health slogans, etc.?
- A cheesecake with a spoiled taste that you will never guess is low in calories
My explanation for sitting in the arms of the minister and his officials is the same explanation that promotes DNA: detachment from life itself. They have an attached vehicle, an attached driver, they do not travel by public transport. And then they do not understand what this uprising is about the rise in transportation prices. In total “how many shekels”? What opacity!
So like this, this is my message to the bureaucracy: You can easily lower the price of fuel to levels of NIS 6-6.5 instead of NIS 7.7 after the last increase. Stop bragging to us: “It does not depend on us” and “It depends on world oil prices”. Indeed, the increase is due to global conditions, but the decline can and should be due to local conditions. You have tens of billions in tax collection surpluses – use only some of them to lower the price of fuel.
2 What an affair there is between the Histadrut and the Ministry of Finance! It seems to me that, for some reason, there is a merger of interests between the Ministry of Finance and the Histadrut, although this should be exactly the opposite, precisely against the background of Lieberman’s declared right-wing economic ideology. And here, this week, to great acclaim, the Ministry of Finance announced that a framework agreement for the public sector is underway: “Senior officials from the Ministry of Finance and the Histadrut will begin in the coming days a series of meetings to formulate an up-to-date framework agreement for the public sector.”
According to the announcement, at the meeting it was decided to establish negotiating teams on the framework agreement and wage agreements in the public sector, which will enter into force on January 1, 2023. “The parties discussed the importance of the new framework agreement Already in the coming days. ” And there were more butterflies and exaggerations from the director general of finance and the chairman of the Histadrut about “improving the service”, about “an up-to-date and modern framework agreement”, about “cooperation for the benefit of the economy” and so on.
I am willing to bet, not a particularly wild guess, that under the “up-to-date” and “modern” wage agreement there will be no wage cuts, especially for the cream of public sector workers, there will be no violation of the senior pensioners’ budgetary pension conditions and no modern efficiency plan “. I would not be surprised if a mechanism for long-term wage increases is also established, as usual in wage agreements in the public sector. What it was is what it will be: the oil of the public sector will continue to gain weight and weigh on the thinness of the private sector.
3 Aimed at Energy Minister Karin Elharar for the decision to effectively abolish the freeze on gas exploration in the Mediterranean. First, when a politician backs away from a wrong decision, it should be welcomed. It’s not trivial, it does not happen much, because it is difficult for people to admit their mistakes. I have written countless times about the natural gas revolution and the possibility of significant gas exports to Europe, especially in light of the global energy crisis and rising prices, so Elharar’s decision to continue exploration is right and just.
However, there is another interest and another message here: for me it is another signal that more and more people stop giving up and surrendering to the cult of the “greens” in their social disguise and apocalyptic slogans. It is a populist sect, with the same “social” ones, that receives a much greater media stage from its power, understanding and influence. It is good to learn that the Minister of Energy also understood that this sect would not determine the map of gas exploration in Israel.
4 I have expressed my appreciation to MK Michael Bitton here many times. I think a politician who has not experienced difficulty since his days, who was full all his life, can not understand people who survive with difficulty, who experience difficulties – there is such a fashion to blame the poor or the weak for their weakness. This is the essence of the confrontation between Bitton and Merav Michaeli, the Minister of Transportation.
And there are other layers in this confrontation: a confrontation between the rule of officials and a politician that cannot be confused with slogans about reform, a confrontation between bureaucratic arrogance, which is sure to have no wisdom from it, and elected officials. It is true that there are quite a few MKs who take advantage of their choice for populist shows in economic and financial matters, but to say about MK Bitton that he wants “input”, that there is a debate here about “two shekels”, as one Sheva journalist put it? Well, where did we get to? How far will the disconnection from life itself lead?
In order to understand what this is all about, I chose to bring selected excerpts from the minutes of the Economics meeting on the issue of the reform of transportation tariffs during the month of May. Bitton was brewing on a small fire, after the Ministry of Transport repeatedly tweeted at him and did not answer his questions that touched on the details of the reform. This is another reform that is being brewed to worry, ostensibly, about consumers without checking whether it is indeed beneficial to them. At this meeting, Bitton “exploded,” it is said. Read the passage and understand why. This is how officials – in this case a clerk – allow themselves to smear any attempt to understand what the reform is about. There is some thought that it is enough to throw the word “reform” in the air to automatically think it is right. No, in some cases she really is not.
Bitton: “Hello. We are in an important meeting on the issue of public transportation fare reform, follow-up meeting. Summary of previous chapters: The government was required to present to the Economic Affairs Committee during the recess what it intends to do in public transportation reform, because we also received rumors of such a reform. We were told that the reform was not final and that it would be discussed in the coming weeks. Understand the consequences of the reform after it was published, and with an emphasis on harming vulnerable populations and dramatic price increases for various groups in society.
Michael Bitton (Photo: Noam Rivkin, Flash 90)“During the discussion we presented to the Ministry of Transport clear requirements, what changes the reform should go through, and we also sent a letter. We asked for data. We received a presentation and report, some last night and some this morning. Anyone who wants to take us seriously, send us enough time in advance. Yesterday morning or yesterday noon, neither at night nor this morning.There will not be much gossip and no arguments in today’s debate, because I intend to be very, very determined on this issue.I said the firm things in previous discussions, so I will keep restraint and composure today.
“We sent a letter to the Prime Minister, the Minister of Finance and the Minister of Transportation, and asked for either the reform to be frozen until the next Arrangements and Budget Law and to address the Knesset comments or solve the problems arising from the reform.
“Who is here on behalf of the Ministry of Transportation, the most senior? Are you going to reduce the age of people from 75 to retirement age with the exemption you gave to public transport? Are you going to lower the exemption to 62-67, as we requested?”
Noa Litmanovich, Head of the Senior Economics Division at the National Public Transport Authority, Ministry of Transportation and Road Safety: “Chairman of the Committee, I would be happy to introduce you.”
Bitton: “We do not want any show. You sent a show at night or in the morning. You will not show anything you send at such hours. If you had sent it a day or two earlier, then we would have let you show it. We do not even have time to check what “That you send. Answer me only questions. There is a letter to the minister. You are the minister’s representative. Answer me the questions. Are you going to lower the retirement age to 62-67 to be exempt from payment, as we requested?”
Noa Litmanowitz: “According to our data, the chairman of the committee, there is a very significant number of passengers aged 75 and over. That is the fear that has arisen. “
Bitton: “You did not hear the question. Answer the question for me. Are you lowering the exemption from public transportation to retirement age, for people aged 62-67? Did you discuss it? You do not lower, turn around. .
Noa Litmanowitz: “Chairman of the committee, I came to present you with a lot of things.”
Bitton: “I do not need very much. There is a letter. Have you seen the letter?”.
Litmanowitz: “Of course, I saw the letter.”
Bitton: “Is it in front of you? Look at section 3. Do you intend to prevent the violation of the value accumulated in the multi-line?”.
Litmanowitz: “I will ask again, do not you want us to answer all the questions in an orderly manner?”.
Bitton: “These are the questions. There is a letter. The letter contains in paragraph 3 subsections 1-9. In each section I want an answer if you discussed it and what you do. Are you willing to examine the change in the map, when two ultra-Orthodox cities were specifically discriminated against?”
Litmanowitz: “I will mention again that the maps were set before the reform and not during the reform itself.”
Bitton: “Are you prepared to prevent harm to the authorities in low socio-economic status, to prevent prices there from rising? For example, Ofakim, Beit She’an, Binyamin, the Dead Sea Valley, Gush Etzion, southern Hebron, Arava, Tiberias, Yeruham, Lehavim, Ma’ale Ephraim , Mitzpe Ramon, Omer, Arad, Kiryat Arba, Kiryat Shmona and Sderot. The fare for a single travel ticket was NIS 3, for multi-line publications it was NIS 2.4. After the reform it will be NIS 5.5. These? “
Litmanowitz: “Chairman of the committee, I would be happy to show you data that show that the new product is better for regular users.”
Biton: “We are not interested in regular users. The random users interest us, the person who travels once a week to the hospital, the person who travels once a week to the HMO. Since when did you start talking about regular users? “Have you discussed the tariff in the peripheral cities, which was NIS 3 and is now going to be NIS 5.5? Almost 100% increase in price. Are you willing to change these tariffs?”
Litmanowitz: “We discussed this issue and the product of the regional NIS 99 …”.
“Biton:” Do not tell me what you discussed. Yes or No? These are the answers we want to hear. Are you going to compare the price of a train ride to the price of a bus ride? There was an increase in the price of trains with this reform. “
Litmanowitz: “The prices of train travel are still higher today than the price of bus travel.”
Bitton: “But they became more expensive in the reform. The price of a train ride will be more expensive than the price of a bus ride. You also admitted it. A free monthly bus is cheaper than a free monthly train. It can also hurt employees because they want to ride the train, but the employer will give. “They have a salary based on a bus ride, because it’s cheaper. That’s the law that is going to benefit the employer. We talked about it. Did you address this injury to employees?”
Litmanowitz: “This issue is under discussion in the Ministry of Finance. It is important for me to note that most employees receive a refund for the municipal free-monthly, so in fact their refund will increase.”
Bitton: “There are about 500 workers from Yeruham who travel to work in Dimona and Be’er Sheva, and from Be’er Sheva there are workers who travel to Tel Aviv and Kiryat Gat every day and so on. It is not within the city, it is intercity. “That they would not be harmed if they traveled by train? That they would be reimbursed by train and not by bus, because a free monthly bus is cheaper than a monthly free train?”
Litmanowitz: “This issue is under discussion with the Ministry of Finance.”
Bitton: “I did not see that you waited for the debates before you published the reform. I did not see that you waited for the Knesset members to comment. Now you are holding debates? Perhaps you would have held debates before announcing the reform?”
Going forward:
Litmanowitz: “The chairman of the committee, you know, of course, in the end, to make a reform, many times there are temporary instructions that come in first to avoid situations that are inconvenient for passengers. “The more refunds or procedures that passengers have to do, the more difficult it will be for them.”
Bitton: “Noa, I am not satisfied with your reference to my letter. It has definite sections. I did not receive specific answers to them, whether or not, if you do in part. To say that it is in discussions – it is not an answer. Discussions you would have made before the reform was published, Not after someone recognizes the problems “