and sell it off to the oligarchs. It will be passed off as "reform" while the average person will weep about the insane prices and restricted output. At least up until now we had regulated and comparatively affordable prices, even though IEC is a monopoly. The finance ministry bureaucrats refuse to see how similar reforms failed around the world, including in the USA. Heaven help us!

companies give employees no incentive to create a better telephone, sneaker, pair of jeans, vehicle, and so forth and so on. Who wants the same old brown pair of shoes every year? That's why capitalism works. Your best friend and neighbor wants something different than what you have....something newer and better. Status....... I'd like a $2000.00 dollar car from India. I don't care what the color of the vehicle is. If it gets me from here to there I'm happy. Until people get a little less picky about what they wear and drive....capitalism will do just fantastic. Humans are always predisposed to pass up the Jones-ses next door. Kids are supposed to do better than their parents...and so on and so forth. Capitalism. Greed. Pride. Competition.

IEC charges customers as much as it can then enriches itself through obscene salaries and benefits. They are the first oligarchs in Israel and look after themselves quite nicely. I'm not sure that it would get worse with selling it off and allowing competition. The current system is government sanctioned theft, almost any altermative would be better.

How, in today's world, where energy should be *conserved*, where renewable clean energy is sought, is IEC still today providing free electricity for its employees? It removes any incentive to conserve, and is irresponsible. Israel could be a world leader in clean, alternative energy, yet they allow this travesty to continue. Socialism, it seems, still lives in the IEC.

As an independant territory, Gaza should be allowed to produce their own electricity. Alternatively, there can be a business deal with Israel over Palestinians buying power from Israel, but that would remain only business-based, and exempt of all political considerations.

Just look up examples in the US. No industry or leader is pure, but at least the government puts limits and provides some protections.

"IEC charges customers as much as it can then enriches itself through obscene salaries and benefits." IEC has been forced to undercharge recently, not overcharge. Comparatively, rates in Israel are much cheaper than in Europe. Enriches itself? The company is on the verge of insolvency because the finance ministry purposely makes them undercharge. Obscene salaries and benefits? If only all Israeli workers were treated FAIRLY by their employers. IEC should be the standard of how employees are treated in this country, but instead, irrational jealously takes over. Have you noticed how the government is the #! employer of "manpower" labor in all other fields - taking advantage of people and not giving them any rights? Is this a model for the country? By the way, IEC employs many engineers and white collar professionals who would be making similar amounts in the private sector, so the argument about obscene salaries and benefits is not applicable here. (BTW, I agree that the free energy benefit should have been canceled long ago.) "They are the first oligarchs..." IEC is a monopoly, and a privatization may be possible, but the way the Israeli government is going about it will guarantee that the average citizen will get shafted. The gov't does not want to even regulate the industry. This will lead to a Russia-style multi-monopoly (oligopoly), where a few private producers will collude to keep prices high and restrict output. IEC, as a gov't regulated monopoly WANTS TO BUILD new power plants, but the finance ministry is blocking them. On the other hand, the new private clique will have no incentive to build anything, as long as it squeezes the citizens for really high rates and low output. Look at what happened in California (Enron) and in Michigan for more details.