[Dr. Aaron Lerner - IMRA:

A personal note: I also remember the "good old days" - like when my then
Histadrut employer explained to me that I could only advance so far in the
company because I wasn't a member in the correct political party. And I
remember how only those with connections could get a phone line in a
reasonable amount of time. In fact, I have Saddam Hussein to thank for my
telephone line. Days before the 15 January 1991 deadline, telephone company
techs showed up in our neighborhood to activate lines we had applied for
long ago.]

Amos Oz's mistake
Nostalgia had an adverse effect on the Oz’s memory; coloring Israel’s past
economic condition with strong hues of pink despite the fact that the
prevailing color was dark gray.
By Nehemia Shtrasler Haaretz Published 01:25 05.08.11
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/opinion/amos-oz-s-mistake-1.377056

Until this week, I didn't know that Israel was once a paradise. That was
during the first 30 years after it was established. "The poverty was not
acute...Those who worked could make a modest but a respectable living for
themselves and their families," the writer, Amos Oz, stated in Tuesday's
Haaretz. Oz continued to speak nostalgically of the magnificent past, adding
that this was an egalitarian society in which new immigrants, refugees and
those who lived in transit camps were granted education, health care and
public housing. However, he stated, "all of this has been destroyed in the
past 30 years as the big-capital governments encouraged and inflamed the
economic jungle laws."

The only problem with with this idyllic description is that it is not
correct. Because nostalgia is a bad adviser. It colors the past with strong
hues of pink despite the fact that the prevailing color was dark gray. The
first 30 years after the establishment of the state were difficult years,
years of poverty and shortages, ethnic discrimination, and a low standard of
living. It's lucky we are no longer there.

To this day, I remember how every single morning our neighbor would ride his
bicycle from the north of Ibn Gvirol Street in Tel Aviv to his place of work
in Jaffa because he did not even have money for the bus. Who had a car then?
Who went out to eat in a restaurant? Who dreamed of going abroad? Only the
political activists. At a later stage, when the trips abroad began, the most
amazing tour was not of the Louvre but of a local supermarket to see the
abundance of food, the diversity, the colors - while we had only Shenhav
toothpaste, Elite instant coffee and Osem noodles on our shelves.

Oz writes that "almost all the women and men worked." Even that is not
correct. Because in order to work during those happy years, you had to have
a red membership book from the Histadrut labor federation. And Oz's
egalitarian society distributed beautiful apartments at half price only to
"those who are close to us" while in the low-income neighborhoods people
wallowed in terrible conditions.

Education for all? Where did he get that? There was excellent education with
good teachers for the Ashkenazi elite, but the "teachers" who were sent to
the poor neighborhoods and the development towns were nothing more than
female soldiers who had completed high school and who could not keep a class
quiet for more than five minutes even if their lives depended on it.

Health care? That too is a myth. After all, until the reform introduced by
former Histadrut head Haim Ramon, at the beginning of the 1990s, some
250,000 people did not have health insurance because they did not pay dues
to the Histadrut. Only in 1994 did we receive a national health law and now
everyone can receive medical attention even if they do not work at all, do
not pay one agora, and have 10 children. And this happened in the last 30
years and not the first.

Once upon a time, you could waste away in poverty and then a representative
of the welfare authorities with a grave expression would come on a house
visit and perhaps dish out a few coins. But in the past 30 years, there have
been child stipends that everyone receives, and there is also supplementary
insurance for those who do not earn enough - something that did not exist at
all in Oz's paradise. It inconceivable that Oz does not remember the revolt
by the Black Panthers at the beginning of the 1970s.

Our luck was that the founding fathers, despite the fact that they came from
the socialist revolution in Europe, understood that in the long run
socialism leads to poverty and want, and they moved over to a market economy
after a relatively short time. This process, which is still ongoing, saved
us. Our standard of living rose dramatically in the past 30 years. Imports
were allowed and the selection increased while the prices dropped. From a
closed and backward economy that relied on exporting oranges, we turned into
exporters of high tech at the forefront of technology.

But of course the situation is not perfect. The gaps are too wide and they
need to be corrected. That is because a market economy requires strong
regulation and constant concern for the weaker elements in society.
Therefore it is good that the tent protest has erupted.

In order to improve the lot of the middle class, the government must deal
with the monopolies and cartels, the large workers' committees, the tycoons
who control too much of the economy, the exaggerated military budget and the
crazy taxes that are imposed on food products. It must also deal with those
who have excessive rights - the ultra-Orthodox and the settlers.

With regard to this last point, there is no one who will agree more with
what Amos Oz said than I do.