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  • Israeli economy 'falling behind'

    Israel needs fundamental economic reform if it is to recapture the pace of growth it saw in the late 1990s, its finance minister has warned.


    Finance Minister Netanyahu said Israel had been 'marking time'

    In testimony to the Science and Technology Committee of the Knesset, the country's parliament, Finance Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel was being overtaken in economic terms by the likes of Ireland and Singapore.

    The fault, he said, lay in high taxes and an anti-business environment, which was blocking a return to earlier expansion which had been fuelled by the rampant technology industry.

    "We have been marking time while Ireland, New Zealand, Singapore, Spain and Australia have leapt forward," he told the committee.

    These countries, he said, had low taxes and little bureaucracy to hamper business - whereas Israel was groaning under the weight of an over-mighty welfare state.

    "Israel's population grew 30% with the influx of immigrants from the former Soviet Union but the number of welfare recipients grew 600%," Mr Netanyahu said.

    "This is madness."

    Cuts

    Welfare payments - to a significant extent swollen by support for the voter base of key parties in the governing coalition - are in line to be cut back.


    Three years of fighting means defence spending has soared


    The government is trying to stop the public purse from bursting at the seams, in the face of a budget deficit that some predictions say will hit 6% this year.

    Sweeping public sector job cuts are also on the agenda, triggering an on-again, off-again strike which saw civil servants cut off telephone calls to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's office.

    Heavy spending on defence is also a big drain on the budget, following three years of renewed conflict between Palestinians and Israel.

    Many observers say the ongoing security situation - and the politically-driven welfare spending - is more to blame than bureaucratic inertia, given the fact that several of the countries Mr Netanyahu named also have a reputation for red tape.

    Some economic signs have been more encouraging for Israel in recent weeks.

    Citigroup vice chairman Stanley Fischer, ex-deputy managing director of the International Monetary Fund, said Israel was ready to take off - but only once the peace process revived.

    "I don't think you can grow fast without progress on peace," he told a conference in Tel Aviv on Monday after a meeting with Mr Sharon.

    And the confirmation of loan guarantees from the US saw net foreign investment soar in September to $1.7bn after a $144m outflow the month before, as foreigners invested in government bonds backed by the US.

    But leaving out the bond buying, net direct investment fell to $69m from $118m the month before.

    Courtesy of The BBC
    A grain of wheat eclipsed the sun of Adam !!

  • #2
    Illeminate welfare and secure private property rights and your problem is solved.

    Comment


    • #3
      that seems to be your solvation to all problems.

      well that MIGHT work, unless something like a wall street crash take 2 happens, then the whole country is fucked.

      Comment


      • #4
        Originally posted by s_qwert63
        that seems to be your solvation to all problems.

        well that MIGHT work, unless something like a wall street crash take 2 happens, then the whole country is fucked.
        though probly not as bad as the Soviet Union was.
        Your look more lost than a bastard child on fathers day.

        Comment


        • #5
          reiterate?
          it is a known fact that AFTER the fall apart of the soviet union output fell by 50%, while the worst slump in british economy since the great depression was like 2%.
          so please stop speculating on shit you have no idea about, you dont know shit about economy.

          Comment


          • #6
            Originally posted by s_qwert63
            reiterate?
            it is a known fact that AFTER the fall apart of the soviet union output fell by 50%, while the worst slump in british economy since the great depression was like 2%.
            so please stop speculating on shit you have no idea about, you dont know shit about economy.
            You do of course realise you JUST PROVED MY FREAKING POINT right?
            Your look more lost than a bastard child on fathers day.

            Comment


            • #7
              Originally posted by Stinger
              You do of course realise you JUST PROVED MY FREAKING POINT right?
              "though probly not as bad as the Soviet Union was."

              how clear does that comment sound?
              can you be assed to reiterate on the timeframe/situation.
              and the massive economic downfall came after the fall apart of the USSR.

              Comment


              • #8
                Originally posted by s_qwert63
                that seems to be your solvation to all problems.

                well that MIGHT work, unless something like a wall street crash take 2 happens, then the whole country is fucked.
                Have you noticed that your economic system failed and ours succeeded, or did you missed the last 55 years of history?

                Comment


                • #9
                  Originally posted by Leader
                  Have you noticed that your economic system failed and ours succeeded, or did you missed the last 55 years of history?
                  succeeded?
                  like it did in 1929?
                  go speculate on the stock market.
                  every economy fails and then recovers.
                  the soviet economy did not have a chance to recover however, due to many issues. mainly due to the perestroika.
                  Last edited by s_qwert63; 28 Oct 03,, 00:40.

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Originally posted by s_qwert63
                    "though probly not as bad as the Soviet Union was."

                    how clear does that comment sound?
                    can you be assed to reiterate on the timeframe/situation.
                    and the massive economic downfall came after the fall apart of the USSR.
                    OK I can spell it... out... for... you... I'm... not... going... to... fast... am... I.......

                    You said: "well that MIGHT work, unless something like a wall street crash take 2 happens, then the whole country is fucked. "

                    I said: "though probly not as bad as the Soviet Union was"

                    You said: "it is a known fact that AFTER the fall apart of the soviet union output fell by 50%, while the worst slump in british economy since the great depression was like 2%."

                    I said: "You do of course realise you JUST PROVED MY FREAKING POINT right?"

                    Understand now?
                    Your look more lost than a bastard child on fathers day.

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Originally posted by s_qwert63
                      "though probly not as bad as the Soviet Union was."

                      how clear does that comment sound?
                      can you be assed to reiterate on the timeframe/situation.
                      and the massive economic downfall came after the fall apart of the USSR.
                      Maybe because the USSR was forcing people to work and therefore they didn't have huge economic down turns. Of course, their economy wasn't growing either. There was a huge decline after the fail of the dictatorship because there was chaos in the country. GDP going down significantly when there is chaos. The second hit came because since the government owns everything and the government collapsed, no one was getting paid. When people don't get pay, they don't spend. When they don't spend, the economy collapses. So it wasn't that capitalism cause the down turn. It was the effects of communism reaching beyond the grave.

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Originally posted by Stinger
                        OK I can spell it... out... for... you... I'm... not... going... to... fast... am... I.......

                        You said: "well that MIGHT work, unless something like a wall street crash take 2 happens, then the whole country is fucked. "

                        I said: "though probly not as bad as the Soviet Union was"

                        You said: "it is a known fact that AFTER the fall apart of the soviet union output fell by 50%, while the worst slump in british economy since the great depression was like 2%."

                        I said: "You do of course realise you JUST PROVED MY FREAKING POINT right?"

                        Understand now?
                        not in th way in which you present it.

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Originally posted by Leader
                          Maybe because the USSR was forcing people to work and therefore they didn't have huge economic down turns.


                          forcing people to work?
                          where on earth did you undig that from?


                          Of course, their economy wasn't growing either. There was a huge decline after the fail of the dictatorship because there was chaos in the country. GDP going down significantly when there is chaos.


                          "no shit sherlock"


                          The second hit came because since the government owns everything and the government collapsed, no one was getting paid.


                          the new government owned anything.
                          but their "privatisation" attempts with the local mafia went bad.
                          that is why the countries went down the drain.

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Originally posted by s_qwert63
                            succeeded?
                            like it did in 1929?
                            go speculate on the stock market.
                            every economy fails and then recovers.
                            the soviet economy did not have a chance to recover however, due to many issues. mainly due to the perestroika.
                            If you studied history, you would know that we have corrected the problems of the 1930's. Did you happen to miss all those years between 1945 and 1991 when your countries economy did nothing and our economy dominated the world? They only reason that the USSR don't collapse after WW2 was because it used Eastern Europe as a colony and sucked them dry.

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Originally posted by s_qwert63

                              forcing people to work?
                              where on earth did you undig that from?

                              "no shit sherlock"

                              the new government owned anything.
                              but their "privatisation" attempts with the local mafia went bad.
                              that is why the countries went down the drain.
                              Don't spew your communist propaganda here. Yeah the government told them what jobs they were going to do. When they would do it. And what they would get paid for doing it (or not doing it which was the problem.) The soviet economy was an object failure. Your inability to accept that is telling.

                              Comment

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