Have been mulling much the same problem myself. I voted for Lapid with high expectations. Now... I don't know...

Lapid chose the first moments to deliver austerity well. The time for the economy to be recovering is not at the beginning of your term, it is at the end. Lapid surely knows that the public will forgive him if the measures (which are recommended by every real economist) work, and they will work, because they will reaffirm that Israel is a place where there is responsibility and discipline in contrast to many countries. Two years from now you will be calling him a wizard. Watch.

As someone put it: the right man at the right time! good thqat he does not care about the angry envious leftist mob!

Everybody knows he is not the original author of the finance and economic plan followed by the goverment. Now deri is taking his roll as opposition leader. the question is: is israel willing to became a haredi country thanks to Lapid?

eshkol, peres, shamir, netanyahu, olmert... in spite of taking harsh measures. it's a great place to garner favors and create a power base. upsetting the people? who cares about THEM? lapid? dont make me laugh too hard. at my age it could be fatal.

That is the surest sign that Lapid is doing the right thing.

Happy creation its wonderful day

No matter how good you are at handling the media, you aren't going to make people happy about tax increases and service cuts. The best thing to do is to treat them like adults and tell them the truth--that painful measures taken now will hopefully result in economic stability that will allow progressive reforms later. Better to be thought of as an economic hardass than a media weasel.

if only others were as brave as him, doing the right thing for the country, instead of worrying about their own butts!

It sounds more of a frustrated venting than a proper analysis. Lapid is doing fine.

He wasn't to end the world's only Jewish nation, just like his late father did.

from our natural gas fields? Do they even make up a 10 agora contribution to the budget? Five agorot? I do not want to contribute my tax money to welfare or for pensions to elderly olim that come here after the age of retirement. Nor do I want to subsidize child allowances to those that never served in the I.D.F.!

A clear explanation understandable by non-economists is required. What s the effect on the middle class if the budget overdraft is not reduced? How in reality will the new budget reduce the overdraft? What is the contribution of various economic strata (as percentage of the reduction) on reducing the overdraft? Then perhaps a better assessment of Mr. Lapid’s budget can be made.