File under: Man Bites Dog - Politician keeps his word.

Regular readers of this space must have by now sussed the fact that there is no love lost between Bibi and myself; not that he would know me from Adam's off ox if he met me on the street, but still.  As a rule, I find that Bibi is, in the words of The Economist, a "serial bungler."  That his government is based on cronyism and that his comb-over is frankly pathetic.  You know the old saw that goes "How do you know a politician is lying? His lips are moving."?  That's Binyamin Netanyahu for me.  Bibi is a brilliant, gifted communicator, this makes him the master of doublespeak.  "Two states for two peoples," he said not long ago.  Yeah, right.

And so, I find myself in the very awkward, very strange position of praising the man for keeping his word.  When hundreds of thousands of Israelis took to the street to demonstrate for a better life I took a look at what Bibi was doing about it and concluded, repeatedly, that he didn't have a clue.

Apparently, so did he.

I say this because what Bibi did was outsource clue-getting to Prof. Manuel Trajtenberg.  Essentially, BN formed a committee (the preferred way for politicians to kill an issue) headed by Prof. Trajtenberg and gave them carte blanche to research the issues that came out of the protests and make any recommendations they saw fit.  He also kinda promised to adopt the recommendations.

And then a man bit a dog, or a politician kept his word. Quickly after the Trajtenberg Committee presented its report Bibi brought the matter before the whole government for its approval, and failed to get it. Undeterred, he engaged in the arm-twisting and politicking he is known for and brought it around for a second time and this time, managed to pass it.  Bibi? Really?

Wow.

On the face of it the main recommendations of the committee are not all that dramatic, but around here they amount to a sea change.  For example:

• Gradually open up all manner of protected markets to imports.
• Get more of the ultra-orthodox to work, mainly by diverting money from subsidized Torah study to more productive types of education.
• Slowing down, ever so slightly, the growth in the budget of the Defense Ministry.
• Increase participation of private firms in public transportation and diminishing the influence of traditional monopolies.
• Actual implementation of the Compulsory Education Law of 1984 that mandates free education for all from the age of three.

There's more but you get the idea.  Not bad I must say.  I don't agree with all of it and I don't think that this will be enough, but it's a good start certainly.

However, I find that I must steal a line from Aladdin, "now for the caveats, provisos, and quid-pro-quos."

1. Manuel Trajtenberg is a  clever man. He knew going in that any recommendations too much at variance with the current government's policies would be ignored, so none do.  We're getting "social justice" that can pass through the Bibi-filter.  Could be worse.
2. It ain't over til it's over. (link) The usual predators in the Knesset are already salivating over how much they'll get in return for allowing the government resolution to be turned into law.  How much they'll water down the better provisions, how they'll insert extraneous garbage to benefit their little band of supporters, etc.  Par for the course, but that is exactly the type of behavior that sparked the demonstrations in the first place.
3. Bibi might just be Bibi.  It might very well be that all this is a complex and sophisticated exercise to convince rubes like me that Bibi listens and wants what we want, and doing nothing.

Praising Bibi.  Whew, that was hard! I'll have to remember not to make a habit out of it.

What would I do differently if I were in Bibi's shoes

I got called out on the one and only comment to the last entry.  What would I do, where I in Bibi's shoes, or at least in his position?  Good question, that.

Off the bat I would say that what I would like to see from Bibi is more of a mindset change and less specific policies at this early point in time.  That said, some ideas:

1. Lower or eliminate duties and excise taxes that are there just to protect the artificially high profits of some local manufacturer.  For example, some types of breakfast cereal have 100% to 300% duties imposed on them.  Why?  What possible purpose could that serve other than to protect a local manufacturer's bad habits and to line the government's pockets with my money. 
2. I won't debate here whether having a value added tax (VAT) is a good idea or not.  Let's say that it is, just for the sake of argument.  What peeves me off is that they add VAT on top of duties and taxes.  So my breakfast cereal (or my car for that matter) has an initial cost of say, $2, then they add another $2 on duties, and then they add 16% VAT on $4!  Does that make sense?  Didn't think so.
3. Buying or renting an apartment in Tel Aviv is very expensive.  No matter what the government does that is not going to change (sorry protesters, live with it).  That said, there's quite a bit that we could be doing to alleviate the burden.  The big reason that housing is so expensive in Tel Aviv is that Tel Aviv is where life happens in Israel.  Business life, entertainment, whathaveyou.  Added to that is the fact that getting into Tel Aviv is very difficult.  There's little or no effective public transportation and taking a car is inconvenient and expensive, so why would anyone would choose not to live in Tel Aviv?

Here's a radical idea.  Invest in infrastructure, say good rail or the sort of 'rail on wheels' that they pioneered in Curitiba, Brazil.  By that I mean connect the periphery to the heart in a way that is effective, safe, quick, and inexpensive.  I live about eight miles from downtown TA and getting from my door to say, the theater, is nigh-well impossible without using the car.  Give me a good alternative and I'll use it.  And I'm confident that I speak for millions.

And here's a depressing thought.  I'm writing this paragraph almost a week after I wrote all of the above ones.  In that time, the Palestinians went to the UN to ask for a state of their own and Bibi got the chance to go there and look all grand and statesman-like during his speech to the general assembly.  It's sad comfort (but comfort nevertheless) to see that in this at least we're like every other country.  When the head of government (president, chancellor, prime minister) gets into trouble on domestic issues, it's always a good idea (for him) to go abroad and be seen to be taking care of the country's business.  Above the fray, as it were.  Can't even fault Bibi, the Palestinians served that one up all on their lonesome.