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Tip for the next finance minister: This is how you will avoid the mistakes of your predecessors - Walla! Of money

2021-03-26T13:13:52.219Z


Both Israel Katz and Moshe Kahlon before him paid a political price for their conduct in the Ministry of Finance. Avichai Snir believes that social democracy is a good idea - but not as it is implemented in Israel.


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Tip for the next finance minister: This is how you will avoid the mistakes of your predecessors

Both Israel Katz and Moshe Kahlon before him paid a political price for their conduct in the Ministry of Finance. Avichai Snir believes that social democracy is a good idea - but not as it is implemented in Israel.

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  • Social Democracy

  • Minister of Finance

Avichai Snir

Friday, 26 March 2021, 00:02

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Minister of Finance, Israel Katz (Photo: Reuven Castro)

I do not know if or when there will be a government.

But I have one recommendation for the next finance minister - whatever it is: do not try to be a Social Democrat.

The last two finance ministers have tried very hard to be Social Democrats.

Minister Kahlon was busy distributing "to the weak" and helping young people buy apartments.

Minister Katz announced that he handed over more money to the unemployed and weak than in any other country. Both expected to receive awards from the public for the benefits they distributed, and both found that the public actually thought the opposite. In the Treasury, his party has dropped (according to current results) from 36 seats to 30.



In my opinion, this will also happen to any party that tries to be too social-democratic in the future as well.

This is not because social democracy is a bad idea: a state that gives its citizens a wide safety net, and ensures a dignified existence for everyone is an ideal worth striving for.

But this is not appropriate for a country where there are 13 parties in the Knesset of 120 MKs.

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Because social democracy has a price: the price is high taxes that make it possible to distribute wealth among the entire population.

In order for the public to be willing to meet this price, two conditions must be met.

The first is that work will be valuable.

At the core of social democracy is the belief that people want "working bread" and not free bread from the state.

The second condition is that every citizen should believe that his or her chance of needing the assistance of the state is similar to that of any other citizen in the state.

Social democracy in Israel is different from Europe

In Europe, social democracy was a demand of the working class, who demanded that the state give them insurance against events beyond their control.

In Israel, the two parties that lead the demand for social democracy are Shas and Torah Judaism, which demand insurance for things that are completely controllable.

In a country where there are 13 parties in the Knesset, it is clear that the second condition is not met.

Israeli society is broken into many groups, and in each group, the chances of needing the help of the state are very different from the other groups.

The first condition also does not hold.

There are some people who think it is perfectly fine if they get bread from the state even without a job.



Therefore, in the country the demand for social democracy comes from a very different place than in countries where there is a functioning social democratic regime.

In Europe, social democracy was a demand of the working class, who demanded that the state give them insurance against events beyond their control.

Country, leading both parties demand social democracy both Shas and United Torah Judaism, which require insurance on things that are totally uncontrollable. They are not asking for assistance to help those who are weak luck to follow him, but to help those who chose to live in poverty.



What is nice is that the demand for Social Democracy in Israel is usually not defined in advance as assistance to a particular group. Torah Judaism wanted the state to provide dental care to children for the entire population, not just children from a particular population. Shas worked to increase child benefits for all children in the country, not for children from a particular group.

But what Shas and Aguda politicians have forgotten to remind the public is that the population groups they represent pay far less taxes than the other groups. Therefore, it is true that middle-class and upper-class households receive the same benefits. But because middle-class and above pay most taxes, You get what they paid for. But they also pay for the children of those who do not work.



Therefore, social democracy in Israel is not really social democracy, but the transfer of money from certain population groups to others. In fact, as a friend told me yesterday, if you were in Israel a government which is truly social democratic, could very well be that the Haredim will receive much more than they receive today, even if they will have one representative in the government. So social democracy is a fantastic idea. but I sincerely hope that the next finance minister will not be like that.



Dr. Avi Chai Snir - Netanya Academy and Bar-Ilan University

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Source: walla

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