Why simply cutting subsidies to haredim will cause suffering, not employment
My new column is up at The American Prospect:
In our last episode, dear viewers, we watched as Israel’s main opposition party, Kadima, sold out its centrist voters and joined Benjamin Netanyahu’s government—thereby providing the prime minister a reprieve of over a year before he must face the voters. This allows Bibi more time to raise regressive taxes, evade negotiations with the Palestinians, and deride diplomatic efforts to solve the Iranian nuclear issue.
But perhaps there’s a bright spot in this dark plot line. To paraphrase a question I’ve heard repeatedly over the last couple of weeks: Since the new coalition is broad enough to maintain its majority in parliament even if clerical parties walk out, can it finally end one of the strangest and best-known aberrations of Israeli life? Can it end the bizarre pork-barreling that allows most ultra-Orthodox men to spend their life in religious studies rather than working? After all, isn’t the Israeli economy slowly sinking as the ultra-Orthodox community grows and the financial burden increases?
The question makes sense, especially the part about the economic costs of current trends. And Netanyahu has shown in the past that he likes budget cuts as a way of attacking this and other problems. But the real solution is a lot more complicated, and actually requires the government to spend more money in the short term. It also requires thinking of the ultra-Orthodox as a community made up of real people struggling with their situation, rather than a faceless mass. While avoiding predictions, I’d bet against Netanyahu’s government designing the subtle and humane policies needed for change. …
Read the rest here.