For every finance minister, the period of approving the state budget by the government and Knesset is always characterized by political deals, uncomfortable comprises, and tactical retreats from promises to the public. Put simply, when approving the budget, the old politics prevails, even when Yair Lapid sits in the finance minister's office. Deals, compromises, and tactics are part of the job. The question is always the dosage: how far does he deviate from the promises, and how much does he stick to a particular path.
But Yair Lapid would like for the public to continue to see in him something which does not exist and became the presenter of this virtual figure, who is not real. This has been the Lapid of recent weeks: full of general talk which probably has no substance. To tell the truth, he is neither the first, nor the last, Israeli minister who has decided that talk is cheap, and that it is possible to take flights of fancy if there is political profit to be made. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has more than once been suspected of using this method.
Here are some examples of empty talk: This week, Lapid announced that National Insurance Institute welfare payments would be cut, but that job training centers would also be built. Logic can be found in both statements. The problem is that, meanwhile, we see no budget for this plan to build job training centers, and the government has published no practical steps for them. What we have instead is an OECD report, which states that, since 2003, the government has cut spending on job training for the unemployed and unskilled. This means that substantial funds are needed just to restore the situation to what existed a decade ago. There is no coverage of cheap talk, even when nice words give a good impression.
The second example is also related to the job market. In another speech, Lapid described his policy as "putting the working man at the center". Although there is weight and coverage of these pretty words, after it has turned out that the Ministry of Finance, with the full collaboration of the Histadrut (General Federation of Labor in Israel), has emptied of content last year's agreement to improve the conditions of contract workers. This agreement has not been implemented. Here, too, talk and poise count, not what exists behind the appearances.
To tell the truth, improving the conditions of contract workers would make a real contribution to making the formal labor market more attractive to people who either do not work, or work under the table. But the subject apparently does not really concern the finance minister. It is more important to him that his message is received. "Putting the working man at the center" should not be seen as a slogan by socialist youth movements, but as marketing Lapid's basic concept of a world divided between "productive people" and "parasites".
A third example is "coalition money", which Lapid railed against in the name of new politics. For a man who raises indirect taxes on the public, raises the income tax on middle class, cuts the child's allowance, and abolishes exemptions, there is a need for a slogan to protect himself from his critics. Declarations like, "acting against coalition money and against the special interests" sound like something straight out of Yesh Atid's campaign brochure.
But the same words were spoken by the man who gave the political promise to his colleague Naftali Bennett that money will continue to flow to the settlements. Furthermore, there is also the promise that the matter will not even be put on the agenda. In other words, we cannot know how much of this money can be saved because we do not know how much money is involved.
More examples, from the tax system to the education system, are not lacking. The important thing is that the man who sits at the finance minister's desk has embarked on a certain road, which is not always suitable for the man who sets economic policy. Lapid looks like just another man who prefers spin to reality; words over deeds; imagery over truth. We already have such politicians in the government. The question is why we need one more.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on May 7, 2013
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