Bottom Shekel / Why Israel, why now?

Ha'aretz
......Israel ended the first quarter of 2009 with economic contraction of 4%, in annualized terms, and unemployment hit 8%.

But relative to the United States and various European countries, the damage to the economy was minor. Israel's banks are standing firm. The government didn't have to nationalize any companies. There were layoffs but not en masse, and no major collapses ensued. The real estate market, which sent whole economies into spasms, was barely affected: If anything, home prices continued to amble upward ...

..... Yet that doesn't mean that nothing but roses are coming up in the Holy Land. ....Israel also suffers from almost impossible political structures. Its form of coalition government generates instability. One after another, governments rise only to fall well before their scheduled demise, which results in a tremendous waste of resources. A new low was recorded this year with the inauguration of the biggest cabinet in Israeli history: The new prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, conducts an orchestra with no less than 37 ministers and deputy ministers.

Israel's system of governance impairs the proper administration of the state. One result is that the government is forced to capitulate to pressure groups. Crucial reforms are stymied and destroyed, in education, in eradicating the monopolies, in the management of the local authorities...... Full story