I guess the celebration of Israel’s 61st birthday last week was superfluous. After all according to BOI head Stanley Fischer,  Israel came into existence when he took his position a few years ago. How else do you explain his bizarre statement in the Knesset today, when speaking about the Bank Hapoalim situation.

According to Globes: “Fischer told the committee, “It’s a mistake to discuss this matter. We’re still in the middle of the measures. I can assure you that we would not have embarked on this path without considering everything, every repercussion, in the middle of the greatest financial crisis this country has every known.”

The ‘greatest financial crisis the country has every known’. Huh?

What drivel. What is he talking about? Israel was about to go bankrupt 7 years ago…remember? Remember the days of hyperinflation????

Give me a break. The fact that Fischer was talking up the economy, as it was entering a slowdown is bad enough. To now say this is a great crisis, is both admitting that you have failed, and that you know nothing of Israeli history. Either way it doesn’t look good.

Much like Prez. Obama, who is trying to recreate the country in his own image without any respect to history, Fischer as well has used the same strategy. unforuneately, those that don’t learn from history are the ones that are doomed to repeat it.

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Brian Buffini, a wel regarded real estate guru in the US, recently said that “Israel is turning out to be a prime real estate destination.”

According to Ynet: “Considered an industry guru, Buffini owns the biggest real estate and business coaching and training company in the US. He arrived in Israel recently to lecture to local real estate agents.

The business of real estate, he told his listeners, can thrive even in these troubled times. Buffini’s teachings advocate using networking and existing business contact, rather than costly advertising, to drum up business.

Realtors, he said, must take the time and invest in creating personal relationships: Every person, on average, knows about 285 people, so if you invest in cultivating 100 relationships, you can increase you potential cliental by 28,500 people.

The US real estate market, left nearly crippled by the financial crisis in the States, is slowly recovering, said Buffini. He recommended Israelis looking to invest in real estate invest in the local market, but if you have your heart set on an American venture, he recommended looking into property in California, Florida and Michigan, as well as in Las Vegas, Nevada and Phoenix, Arizona.”

This is certainly a seal of approval with regards to the Israeli real estate market.

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With international diplomacy unable to slow Iranian leader Ahmadinejad’s goal of annihilating Israel with nuclear weapons, may be a financial crisis will do him in. According to a Ynet report: “Iran’s parliament speaker has called for an investigation following a report by the national audit office suggesting some $1 billion in surplus oil income failed to be deposited in treasury. In a potentially embarrassing development for President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad before a June election, the audit report cited by local media said $1.058 billion in oil revenue in the 2006-07 budget year, had not been transferred to the treasury.”

You don’t think our friend stole the money, do you? It would be unheard of for a dictator to steal money for his own personal use, right? He chalks it all up to ‘misunderstanding’, I’m sure the money was accidentally misplaced.

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Globes had the story this morning about the takeaways from the Israeli Treasury meeting to bail out the pension system.

There are a few salient details, according to Globes:

• the plan has received support from the Finance Minister, Roni Bar-On, and Bank of Israel Governor, Stanley Fischer
• the deal appears to be a compromise between Histadrut chairman Ofer Eini’s broader plan and the narrower plan put forth by the Finance Ministry
• The safety net will cover people over the age of 57.
• People will be covered either when they reach mandatory retirement age, or three years after the plan comes into effect, whichever is later.
• The safety net will have a means test of NIS 1.5 million in cumulative pension savings. Anyone applying for coverage will report all his or her pension savings. Anyone with more than NIS 1.5 million in cumulative pension savings will not be covered. Based on the plan’s actuarial assumptions, NIS 1.5 million is equivalent to approximately NIS 8,000 in monthly income; anyone with a monthly pension income greater than NIS 8,000 will not be covered.
• The maximum reimbursement will be NIS 750,000 throughout the period of the safety net.
• Upon entering the safety net program, the funds will be classified as monthly payments, rather than capital funds.
• Participants in the plan will be allowed to switch between investment institutions, provided that the transfer is between the same category of investment.

IsraelNewsletter’s Katsman has written cynically about what’s actually going on behind the scenes.  While various officials have described Israel as an island within the raging financial sea, we’ve been more skeptical.  As the U.S. begins to dole out handouts for the financial industry and beyond, Israel’s socialist leanings become more pronounced during an election year (say it ain’t so, Bibi).

Anyway, it will be interesting to see how far Israel goes in bailing firms out when the rallying cry is still that there is no real financial crisis in Israel.

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