Like me, I assume all of you were disgusted by the way this government came together. The last minute appointment of ministers with little regard for their capabilities or electoral results was the worst kind of horse trading. The coalition negotiating madness that created a welter of glad-handing promises and commitments was nauseating. At the end, I look at this government and ask myself how people with such a high level of distrust can even work together to run our country?
Israel has a problem. The government is a symptom. When you are running a business, an economy or a government the most basic glue is trust. My partner Eden and I spent much time focused on trust before we formed Aleph and I can assure you that if either of us mistrusted each other, we would not be partners. Lack of trust is a tax on all decision making and all economic or government activity. Aside from the fear that you will be stabbed in the back, when you don’t have trust, you create endless contracts and regulations in place of trust to govern relationships. These contracts and regulations are a tax. It is a monetary and efficiency tax. Then, when disputes arise, we spend large amounts of time deciphering these contracts in courts to adjudicate and enforce. This is bad.
It is very clear that the level of trust among our government coalition factions and ministers is close to zero, even within the same party. This is a tax on all of us. However, it is not just the government. The whole system now works this way. Per my previous post, it takes an eternity to get a housing permit because the bureaucrats think you are trying to get away with something. We even have real estate appeals commissions to get around the bureaucrats because we don’t trust them either. We have legal advisors in every government body and sub-government body because nobody can be trusted. This limits flexibility, creativity and problem solving even when your intentions are good. That is a big tax.
Worse yet, when we catch people for sex offences and graft, punishments are short and often shortened further if you are connected to the powers that be. That lax enforcement environment encourages deviance which engenders further lack of trust. It is a vicious cycle.
This is why Israel is now a low trust, high regulation and low enforcement society. That is an enormous tax.
Countries should aspire to exactly the opposite mix. What we really want is a high trust, low regulation and high enforcement society. We need to stop worrying that everyone is out to screw someone. The only way to create trust is to believe people are trustworthy. Sure there will be mistakes and problems but most people in a society are good and trustworthy and we need to run society for them and not for the miscreants. That is what speeds business and government and ensures a lower cost of living. Someone needs to take the first leap of faith to try to restore trust to our society. As per my previous post, I think that person should be the new Minister of Finance Moshe Kahlon and the place to start is housing.
Let’s trust the people and lower everyone’s cost of living. Let’s tell people that we are going to relax processes and not require you to go through the 7 rings of hell of every building and planning commission to get approval to build. If you follow the regulations and no neighbour objects, we will automatically give you a permit in 30 days. If you break the law, we are going to have killer enforcement. Since housing is obvious as there is a building standing, it is a great place to start showing high enforcement.
We must restore trust to society which will also lower the cost of living and lower the cost of doing businesses with bureaucrats who through regulation impose a big tax on the citizenry. Oh, and maybe, just maybe, we can be a shining example for the politicians to start trusting each other. Maybe.
Based on a discussion years ago with Prof. Eugene Kandell.
Based on a discussion years ago with Prof. Eugene Kandell.