Minister of Defense is responsible for security.
When a war breaks out, we expect the Minister of Defense to be the one to convey the instructions of the political echelon to the IDF. The Minister of Health is responsible for the health policy. If an epidemic breaks out, we come to the Minister of Health with complaints. .
But what does the Minister of Economy do?
The prevailing view in centralized and communist countries is that the Minister of Economy is responsible for the economy.
According to the economic left, he is responsible for directing the economy and sometimes even managing it directly.
Ministers of economy (or industry, or commerce) imposed heavy orders and regulations to subordinate the economy to the will of the government.
Ministers of economy determined how many shoes a certain factory would produce, and then how much the shoes would be sold for.
The stronger the attempt to manage the economies, the more glorious the failure.
The countries of the communist bloc collapsed not because they were invaded, but because they were full of ministers and bureaucrats trying to manage their economies.
Countries that still hold the concept of managing the economy, such as Venezuela or North Korea, are mostly the object of ridicule and pity from advanced countries.
You don't have to go far to communist countries to see the damage of "economic management".
At the end of World War II, Germany was completely destroyed, it is doubtful that there was a single building standing, a large part of the workforce was killed and the product was close to zero.
England's situation was better, most of the economic infrastructure survived and the losses were less.
Crossing Germany was under harsh Soviet occupation, while England enjoyed a thriving democracy.
So why did Germany's economy overtake England's in a few years and open a gap that never closed?
Because England chose to manage the economy by ministers of economy.
It chose quotas, tariffs, regulations, licenses and other barriers.
While Germany chose a free market economy, England chose to manage its own economy and became the sick man in Europe.
Most of the economy ministers in Israel's history came from politics, and most of them held a "managerial" approach to the economy - even though they never managed anything, never initiated anything, and never created anything of value.
Most of them engaged in making political alliances with lobbyists, with industrialists who wanted to limit competition and with workers' councils that took care of fictitious workplaces.
Most of the history of the Ministry of Economy has focused on transferring significant parts of the economic pie into the hands of a few.
Thus, instead of taking care of growth, the Ministry of Economy was the central body harming competition in Israel.
The Standards Institute still requires fictitious and duplicate tests from importers, in order to harm their ability to compete with powerful manufacturers who sit on the standardization committees and write the unique standards that prevent competition in Israel.
The "Industrial Cooperation Authority", a laundered name for fictitious work, was created to provide huge profits to local factories by charging foreign suppliers to make purchases in Israel - increased purchases funded by the Israeli taxpayer, of course.
Thus, for example, the aerospace industry received a train factory at our expense.
Another example: for years the Ministry of Economy prevented the import of cheap cement into the country, and because of that the cost of an apartment in Israel is higher.
And why did the Ministry of Economy block competition for Nesher's cement plants?
Because the ministers of the economy believed that their job was to transfer the money from the citizens of Israel to the tycoons, the lobbyists and the powerful committees.
Netanyahu did well to appoint Barkat to the position of Minister of Economy.
Barkat, who came to politics from the business and entrepreneurial sector, does not believe in dividing the economic pie among those close to him, but in increasing it for the benefit of all Israeli citizens.
He understands that his job is to encourage entrepreneurship and competition, not to enrich the coffers of the big, the powerful and the seventy.
The Standards Institute, regulatory obligations, customs duties and the National Security Agency are nothing but factors that harm the Israeli economy and Israeli society. One word should guide the incoming Minister of Economy: growth.
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