Drivel is drivel, regardless of the technology used. When Minister of Finance Yair Lapid corresponds with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Facebook long before he knows who's against whom and who is favor of what, it just the same pointless, tasteless and odorless drivel by every minister and senior official when he is interviewed by traditional media on radio, television, or the newspapers before understanding what he is talking about.
Lapid may want to show everyone that he and advanced technology go hand in hand. But that is true for every fifth grader. Moreover, this is not what the public expects from its finance minister, the man who merely takes far more than half of our salaries. Maybe Lapid feels more assured writing on his private keyboard. He's skilled at it, writing and deleting, correcting and presenting for critique by his staff and spouse. It is possible that he has decided to personally control the words, lines, commas, and periods, to avoid being taken out of context, and, most of all, not have to face questions. But a man seeking assurance is invited to be a news anchorman or commentator, not the finance minister. If you can't take the heat, stay out of the kitchen.
The important thing, marking the finance minister's credibility to the prime minister and the other ministers and managers, is to stay silent. Keep your lips sealed, sit quietly for a few weeks, or even better, for a few months, and learn. Shamelessly ask the same questions and ask again as many people as possible. It is critical to hear all the responses, and to try and identify the elegant excuses and the special interests' whitewashing, as well as the data and systems. It is also important to grasp Excel spreadsheets, and to learn its odd and boastful language. But don’t go off and tell the guys before you understand it.
Writing to friends on Facebook is nice, but they are not really your friends. They are people, like everyone, some of whom are on your side, and others are against. Most of them, naturally, in order to protect themselves and their hopes, are waiting for you to trip up, if only to say, "I told you that nothing would change here. Nothing will emerge from this pretty boy."
Lapid is emerging as a minister of special interests, just like Shas's Eli Yishai and Ariel Atias in the previous government, who poured public money on to their constituents; and just like the settlers in the government and the Knesset, like Minister of Transport Yisrael Katz who takes care to be the buddy of the workers committees at the private and government companies he oversees, and the minister of agriculture who has over the years become the farmers' man. Lapid is as much a special interest as the minister of defense who uses threats that bombs will fall and soldiers and civilians will be harmed if the defense budget is not increased, and that the investigations will blame the prime minister and finance minister.
A finance minister is a finance minister. The Ministry of Finance belongs to the entire public; it is the public's bank account and income and expenditures statement. He is not the minister of the middle class, or of the rich. He is definitely not the minister of "Ms. Riki Cohen, 37, of Hadera, a high school teacher. Her husband (excuse, Mr. Lapid, why not "spouse") is a high-tech middle manager, and they jointly earn just over NIS 20,000 a month. They have an apartment and travel abroad once every two years, but they have no chance of buying an apartment for one of their three children in the future."
Who says that parents should buy an apartment for their children? It's the parents' job to educate, teach, love, and financially support their children during army service, and to the extent possible, during university, college, or vocational training. It's the parents' job to bring their children to the threshold, the springboard, to enable them with a career, profession and the possibility of buying an apartment in the future, if they want.
It's the job of the government, the Ministry of Finance, and of the Ministry of Housing and Construction to supply enough land for residential construction based on the economy's annual need, to eliminate the bureaucratic obstacles which squeeze the soul out of every square meter, and to make possible, through reasonable and real legislation, the construction of homes at reasonable prices. Beyond that - no benefits. The middle class is strong and smart enough to plan its own lives; just don’t get in the way.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on April 2, 2013
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