Subscribe to Print Edition | Mon., November 06, 2006 Cheshvan 15, 5767 | | Israel Time: 03:21 (EST+6)
Haaretz israel news English
Search site 
  Back to Homepage
Print Edition
Diplomacy
Defense Opinion National Arts & Leisure Anglo File Sports Travel  
Magazine Week's End
Q&A
Business Underground Jewish World Real Estate Advertising  
Bookmark to del.icio.us
Money to burn

This week the Knesset will vote on the 2007 budget. The first reading of the budget bill will kick off the season when every party and Knesset member competes to see who can exert the greatest pressure and demand the biggest budget increase.

Not a single MK will propose ways to save money, but here are a few suggestions:

Advertisement

It was so easy to buy off Amir Peretz. They gave him and the Labor Party a deputy defense minister, and put him on several committees, and he immediately forgot all about principles and commitments - and he now sits in the same cabinet as Avigdor Lieberman.

And what is the Labor Party fighting over? Who will be the next cabinet minister in place of Ophir Pines-Paz, who at least proved he stood for his principles - and quit?

Peretz certainly has not thought about giving up the extra minister. That's how it is in a huge, overly convoluted cabinet. Even without Pines-Paz, the Labor Party has six ministers and one deputy, which is way too many for a party with only 19 Knesset members.

All right, we are not demanding Peretz behave like Lieberman, who is the only member of his faction taking a cabinet seat - even though he represents 11 MKs.

But maybe, in any case, just a little consideration for the taxpayer.

If we are already talking about the taxpayer, it is appropriate to report on the proposal of MK Avigdor Yitzhaki to get rid of the future generations commissioner.

Yosef Lapid came up with the idea for the position, under the belief that it would help weed out populist proposals by MKs - in order to guard the interests of future generations, who would foot the bill through higher taxes.

Therefore, the commission should have objected to all bills that increased spending and deficits. Commissioner Shlomo Shoham should have expressed strong opposition even to expanding the cabinet.

But the commission has not been doing its job at all.

It has not protected future taxpayers, and therefore Yitzhaki's proposal to disband it came at just the right time, maybe even a bit too late.

The proposal to do away with the commission will even benefit future generations - a few million shekels a year will be saved by eliminating several jobs. These are a few million shekels that future generations will not be stuck paying for.

No one knew the police had a chief rabbi, until Yaakov Gross become involved in the affair of improperly issuing diplomas to rabbis and had to retire from the police force. As a result of his retirement, a battle broke out between the rabbis of the various police districts who wanted the plum job.

But who really needs a chief rabbi for the police? And who needs rabbis for each region, each of which employs many more rabbis?

Is the country so big that every little hole needs its own rabbi? Why can't the Tel Aviv rabbi perform the secret rabbinic operations in Haifa?

The police commissioner could have taken advantage of the opportunity to get rid of the entire superfluous division and instead rely on the civilian Chief Rabbinate for services. Instead, Commissioner Moshe Karadi decided he knew better than everyone else, and replaced the outgoing rabbi with two rabbis. One will be the chief rabbi of the Israel Police, and the other will be the rabbi of the National Police Headquarters.

Both will soon be promoted to the rank of chief superintendent, and we will continue to pay for the wastefulness.

Bookmark to del.icio.us
Money to burn
No MK will propose ways to save money on the budget, so here are some suggestions.
'Chained women'
Rabbi Shlomo Amar canceled the conference on women who can't get divorces.
 Today Online
Lieberman: 'Exchange' Arabs for 'homogenous' state
Responses: 363
David Grossman at Rabin memorial: We have no king in Israel
Responses: 176
The IDF and Beit Hanun, the next Palestinian legend
Responses: 98
Let the gay community march proudly in its Tel Aviv shtetl
Responses: 46
Zvi Bar'el: What keeps U.S., Israel, choking on their own power?
Responses: 59


More Headlines
03:19 IDF may face a war with Syria, Hezbollah in 2007
03:12 IDF troops kill three Palestinians in northern Gaza Strip operation
00:16 AG tells police to permit J'lem gay pride parade
01:22 Ramon attorneys: police's illegal wiretaps 'obstructed justice'
21:41 Shalit's father says he hopes Gaza raid will come to swift end
21:12 Olmert: Lieberman's views on Israeli Arabs are not my own
17:36 Report: Palestinian unity gov't to be announced within 48 hours
22:56 Israel Electrical Corp. VP fired for moving transformer on Shabbat
21:32 Airports Authority decision to lay off 120 workers put on hold
Previous Editions
Special Offers
Advertisement
LEUMI
During your visit in Israel Bank Only With the Leader
Supporting Israel's Independence
Get Israel's Independence kit - A unique and unforgettable presentation pack
Bar Ilan University
One year MBA Taught entirely in English
JOIN FREE AT JDATE.COM
The most popular online Jewish dating community in the world! Explore the possibilities! Click Here!
Isrotel Chain
Eleven quality hotels in Israel's best locations
Learn Hebrew Online
Learn Hebrew from the best teachers in Israel live over the Internet
HAARETZ SMS
Register Now to receive your daily news by SMS
Home| Print Edition| Diplomacy| Opinion| Arts & Leisure| Sports| Jewish World| Underground| Site rules|
© Copyright  Haaretz. All rights reserved