Nehemia Shtrasler

It seems there is no majority in the government for the budget. The Labor Party has seven ministers and they decided to vote against. Shas has five ministers and they'll vote nay.

At the beginning of the month, the Knesset approved a first reading of a private member's bill aimed at moving the Israeli economy onto a 4.5-day work week - something that still doesn't exist in most Western countries, even those much wealthier than we are.

Israelis are not willing to work in agriculture because the pay is low and conditions are tough. But that is not a law of nature.

Instead of stirring up a great drama over bread, instead of sitting with the millers and creating an orderly cartel, the Trade and Industry Minister Dalia Itzik could even have opened up the market.

Ariel Sharon is Mister Teflon. He promised us security, but the number of terror attacks and victims has never been so high. His apostles sang "Only Sharon can bring peace" but peace is further away than ever.

This week one of the weirdest documents the Israel Manufacturers' Association has ever issued, landed on my desk. The headline says: "Manufacturers' Association calculation indicates import levies on apparel from Far East will not cause price hikes."

Whoever thinks that shortening daylight-saving time was all about easing the plight of those fasting on Yom Kippur, as claimed by the Shas leader, does not know who he is dealing with, as it is written that on the Day of Atonement "you shall inflict your souls" (Leviticus XXXIII).

Four years ago something big happened in Israel - the Knesset ratified the price tag law, drawing howls of agony from the big manufacturers and retail chains.

The highlight of the 10th Caesarea Conference was supposed to take place last night at 8, when Professor Stanley Fischer, former vice president of the International Monetary Fund, and New York Times columnist Tom Friedman were slated to lecture on "the impact of globalization on Israel's economy."

The previous meeting of the Labor Party in March 2001 elected ministers for Ariel Sharon's cabinet. The central committee complained that party leaders did not listen to them, did not consult them and - most atrociously - did not bring them appointments and perks.

The vastness of WorldCom's fraud ($3.8 billion in the past five quarters) surprised even the great cynic of the American capital market, James Chanos, known for uncovering hidden debts and inflated profits of several corporations.

Anyone who thinks that yesterday's meeting between the Governor of the Bank of Israel and the Finance Minister was "good," is making a mistake. That said, it was much better than their previous meeting, two weeks ago.

I wonder if Shmuel Slavin's hands trembled when he signed on the sentence "the price at which Housing and Construction [the construction company Shikun u'Binui] was sold by the Histadrut in 1996 - NIS 300 million - was reasonable in the circumstances."

Next Monday, the governor of the Bank of Israel, David Klein, will decide whether to raise interest rates or not; and the money market is saying to him: Put them up.

Once Moshe Theumim has convinced us all through his PR campaign launched this week, that the tax reforms are beneficial, essential and conducive to growth, then we should ask him to conduct a much more challenging promotion: convincing us that raising the cost of labor will lead to more jobs.

Despite the festive summit meeting between the prime minister, the finance minister and the governor of the Bank of Israel, and despite the prime minister's statements on "restoring stability to the economy," and despite the promise to cut a further NIS 2 billion from the state budget, the dollar failed to calm down.

The relations between the central bank governor and the finance minister are tense in every country, and such is the case in Israel too.

Despite a festive and polite joint statement, the meeting yesterday between Bank of Israel Governor David Klein and Finance Minister Silvan Shalom was not "good." It will achieve neither stability nor quiet in the capital market.

Labor Party MK Avraham Shochat has reason to be happy. He was the first to suggest taxing the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange, back in 1994, during his first term as finance minister, but failed.

Those who kept track of Bank of Israel Governor David Klein's pronouncements over the past two weeks weren't surprised by yesterday's developments.

The emergency economic plan, passed early yesterday, will not set the economy back on the path to growth, but it is nevertheless important it was passed because it deals with the looming budget deficit.

The Prime Minister's Office issued an announcement Sunday categorically refuting a claim that the cabinet had cut short its meeting that morning to discuss the economic plan, and instead had gone off to watch the World Cup.

Dalia Itzik. When a local manufacturer fails to compete with imports, it runs to the Trade and Industry Minister and complains of "dumping" (the sale of imports at below-cost price).