The Blog is Going on Vacation

Need to recharge the batteries and come up with new ideas. Suggestions welcome in the meantime.

Shalom!

More on RSS vs Browsing

Joseph Shmidman submitted this in response to my post on RSS and Narrowmindedness.

Franklin P. Adams who was an American journalist and radio personality and a member of the famous Algonquin Round Table (for bio see: www.mgilleland.com/fpabio.htm) once said: “I find that a great part of the information I have was acquired by looking something up and finding something else on the way.”

Portal Wars: Google, Yahoo and APPLE!!

Google, Yahoo and MSN continue to duke it out in search. Yahoo and Google are putting intense efforts to role out video and other multimedia search properties. Yahoo has invested heavily in a southern California operation to bolster its media efforts and Google Video plows ahead.

However, in my view, the real horse to watch is Apple. Yes, Apple, maker of the Ipod. Apple completely groks the new genres of media and how today's consumers want to buy and enjoy media. They were the first to understand that if you unbundle music from the album/CD format and make it easy to purchase, users would buy and not steal. They then took it one step further and added podcasts, yet another modern genre of audio entertainment.

With Ipod Video, Apple has gotten after video. Note that they did not target full length feature films for the Video Ipod but rather "media snacks," short form videos such as music videos. It would not surprise me to soon see on Apple's website the kinds of videos that you see on up and coming video sharing and rating sites such as metacafe (full disclosure: Benchmark is invested in Metacafe) or revver.

And now, a report by AP yesterday seems to confirm this trend, stating that Apple's website was the fastest growing website during the last month, reporting a whopping 30.8 million visitors.

Is it possible that if Yahoo is the new internet media leader with RSS etc and Google is the leader in Search that Apple will own rich media? If the answer is yes, this has some interesting implications.

From a stock perspective, Google's operating margin is ~33% (TTM). Yahoo's operating margin is 21%. (TTM) while Apple's current mostly-hardware business sports an 11% operating margin. If Apple were able to increase its profitability through building a rich media portal, on its 45+ PE multiple, the stock could take off.

It also points to an interesting trend: access is becoming more important. Because I access my media through my Ipod, I use Apple's website and itunes software to manipulate and purchase my media. Yahoo has proven that broadband deals with SBC bring more people to its home page. Google, seemingly has figured out that device access brings users and is now trying to roll out free wifi. But Apple's devices and computers and well-tuned for rich media, giving them a leg up in this next battle. Look for apple to roll out more devices that give us better and more bite sized access to lots of media.

So watch out for Apple (or should I say watch and listen), they will be rolling into this Media Portal battle. The Ipod is a high growth trojan horse to a higher profit margin business.

Will RSS undermine tolerance?

"Indeed, the technologies we use to manage our blog reading will reinforce the hierarchy. RSS, for example, imposes the old subscription model on the blogosphere - it’s fundamentally anti-democratic, as it tends to lock us into a set of favorite blogs." - Nicholas Carr in Rough Type (Click here for full article, and for more analysis see this post in the Mediastockblog)

When I attended college, I purposely took a liberal arts route. Although, I knew I would end up in some form of business, I did not want to major in economics or go to the undergraduate business school. My rationale was that college was a place to expand my horizons, see and hear other points of view and learn about different and interesting topics.

As people leave university, settle into jobs, communities and opinions, we interact with other viewpoints in the workplace and by reading newspapers. While I do not believe that newspapers are objective despite their claims (every news editor and writer has his own biases which seep in), newspapers still include a reasonably wide variety of materials and some variety of opinions.

Today, more people are getting their news and opinions online. Initially, this came from online newspapers that were reaosnably similar to the written newspapers and varied in thier content. Now people are interacting more with blogs. Going and finding blogs that are interesting still forced one into contact with information and opinions that are not their own nor in thier comfort zone. This, one would hope, still expands horizons and stretches the mind.

However, RSS takes this one step further, a step that I fear may lead to self-reinforcing narrow-mindedness. I subscribe to RSS feeds, lots of them. They are very helpful for busy people. But as busy people (in an increasingly utilitarian world), we only subscribe to a feed/blog that really interests us or matches our current interests and opinions. These myopic intellectual interactions may lead people to become further entrenched in thier beliefs, having found sufficient like-minded content to keep them busy and close them off from other opinions. I am worried that personalized subscription will lead to even less tolerance than we have today.

I say this partially from personal experience. I stopped reading the Israeli newspapers before the advent of blogs due to their tabloidish style and sparse fact checking (I finally figured out how little you read in the newspapers here is true when they started writing about me. If you were to believe what the Israeli newspapers write, the title of this blog would be EIGHTkidsandafulltimejob.com). I started reading a bunch of blogs when they came online plus the NYT OPEd page. When the NYT OPed Page went to a paid model, I was left only with my blogs. I then realized that my blog subscription list is exclusively tech blogs. I began wondering: How will I learn about stem cell research or understand the issues confronting blue collar workers if all I read is the likes of Om Malik's fabulous blog and the Internet Stock Blog?

I have made a conscious decision to break free of this and am taking the time to read stuff outside of my comfort zone. Our future depends on our ability to understand others and debate very real issues rationally. There is a famous Jewish proverb that goes someting like "Do not judge your friend ('s reaction) until you have been in his place." I wonder if in the future we will truly understand our fellow men without searching for or subscribing to other/s opinions and areas of thought.

What do you think?

Wikipedia Kids

There has been a lot of talk recently on the web about the veracity and accuracy of information in Wikipedia. Chris Anderson, inventor of the term Long Tail has a great post today on the virtues of the Wikipedia style content vs. the Encyclopedia Britannica. The post is well worth reading.

I came home tonight after reading Anderson's post to find my daughter working on a research project for school. She asked me to read her paper and go over the sources with her. The predominant source was....Wikipedia. She read some of the pieces in the Hebrew version and some in the English version of Wikipedia (which by the way, have different content as well). Other sources included web pages of municipalities.

I do not care what the pundits or journalists think about the authority of wikipedia and other long tail sources, in 15 years this debate will be moot because our children will relate to it as the authoritative source and their main source of content. And, it is here to stay. Our kids are so intimately familiar with wikipedia and other sources in the long tail and comfortable with them that they will both drive it into the mainstream and improve it over the coming decades.

After my 11 year old went to sleep and I sat down to write this post, another side effect of the mainstreaming of wikipedia and user generated content came into my view. Take the following example:

I suggested to my daughter that she take what she learned in her research project and the information she found on many other web sites and from direct interviews she conducted and post them to the wikipedia article. What will happen if she contributes her research to wikipedia and then she will turn in her school report. Obviously, her report will look eerily similar to the wikipedia post. Will this be plagiarism? She is the source of both the research project and the wikipedia article. Furthermore, the writing style and content will be similar! How will we relate to a world where the consumer/user of content is the same as the producer, especially when both consumption and production happen at the speed of a mouse click?

Web 2.0 - The Long Tail is Up, The Long Tail is Down

I thought this post entitled "Where's the Money in the Long Tail" by David Hornik to be particularly good. Here is an excerpt:

"It is certainly the case that in the aggregate, Long Tail content is extraordinarily valuable. The question for VCs and entrepreneurs is "for whom?" I've had the good fortune over the last year or so to engage in a number of conversations about the economics of the Long Tail with Chris Anderson and to see those economics illustrated by innumerable Long Tail investment pitches. And, from those conversations and pitches, I have come to the conclusion that there are essentially two general classes of technology the will benefit economically from the Long Tail -- aggregators and filterers. And while both aggregators and filterers rely upon the increasing volume and diversity of content to assure their value in the ecosystem, that growth of content will not have a material impact upon the value of any one piece of content floating somewhere in the Tail. The value will all inure to the benefit of the aggregators and filterers. So who are the aggregators and filterers?"

Ironically, on the same weekend that Hornik was talking about the aggregators of the long tail, one of those filterer/aggregators, SixApart, found out just how hard it is to scale some of this web 2.0 Long Tail stuff (for more color click here and here). I guess we are still teething through this evolution of the web

PM Sharon in the Hospital - 5 questions

With Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in the hospital suffering from a reported mild stroke, I wanted to lay out 5 questions that I am sure are on everyone's mind:

1. Does this medical event, however slight or serious, raise doubts in the electorate's mind about the 78 year-old Sharon's ability to lead the country for the next 4 years? Irrespective of how this medical incident turns out, will Sharon lose votes when the polls come out tomorrow and over the next 4 months?
2. If Sharon cannot continue in the race, who will lead the Kadima party? And, does it matter? A weekend poll in the right-wing newspaper Makor Rishon suggested that without Sharon, Kadima sinks from 35 knesset seats to 12.
3. How does Sharon's health impact the Likud Primary schedule for Monday? Most assumptions were that the race for head of the Likud was to be a coalition partner with Kadima. Now it is possible that the leader of the Likud will be the PM. Will that change people's vote? Is Netanyahu more of a likely PM than Silvan Shalom?
4. Should there be an age ceiling on running for Prime Minister?
5. Who, in your opinion, will gain most from a flight of Kadima voters? Labor,Shinui or Likud?

Update on Taxis and Tips

It seems that Herzliya cabbies read blogs (see previous post). As I walked up to the taxi stand today, I heard one of the cab drivers say "Don't take him, he insists on using the meter." Like that is a criminal offense! His friend retorted (loosely translated from the hebrew), "all those Americans are the same." :)

IM - Meebo Update

You will recall my earlier posts on IM (If not, Click here and here). Seth Sternberg introduced his company Meebo in one of the comments on the blog. The Gigaom rumor mill suggests that they got some funding from Sequoia. Lots of questions of the business model but as I have said before, I think this model of communication services and social services finding their way into other apps and not vice versa is here to stay.

Is this really useful?

I am intrigued by two services I have recently seen that allow consumers to post complaints or compliments about service providers. I am assuming that the purpose of this is to enable the companies to answer for themselves or improve their service.

I am a bit dubious of these kinds of services. Given the number of negative comments I have seen, it feels more like a site to blow off steam than to actually engender a response. Although both sites seem to have the beginnings of traction in their respective markets, it seems to me that consumer advocacy seems to require a lot more than a Hyde Park for service complaints. Here are the two sites. Tell me what you think!

1. Blagger
2. Tluna (Hebrew)

Taxis and Tips - don't try to rip me off

When I was 15, My grandmother once taught me that "nobody ever became rich or poor by tipping too much or too little." So, I have always considered myself a pretty big tipper. There is one exception to this rule, Israeli taxi drviers.

In Israel, you are not expected to tip the Taxi driver but, most often, I do anyway. I have recently changed that practice. I take a taxi approximately 2-3 days a week on the same route. The metered fare comes to between 11-12 Shekels every time. Inevitably, when I get in the taxi, I tell them the route costs 11-12 shekels. If they would turn on the meter or ask for just a little more, I would give it to them and give them a good tip. But, inevitably, the driver suggests that I pay 18-20 Shekels.

I used to get angry. Now I simply tell them that they should turn on the meter. It will come to 11-12 shekels and they just lost their tip.

Sunday, the same thing happened. He asked for 20 NIS. I did my spiel and did not tip him. And, as I left the cab, the taxi driver said "Oh, I have heard about you." Maybe my message is getting through. :)

Shadow Foreign Policy

I never know whether to laugh or cry when all sorts of Jews run shadow foreign Policy for Israel. From Yossi Beilin's Geneva Initiative to the Israel Policy Forum's unending meetings with "Palestinian Leaders," these initiatives do little more than confuse the public, set false expectations and provide the media plenty of nonsense and bad policy to make hay about. I also find it odd, that American Jews, living in the United States and not voting here, feel the freedom and hubris to lead these initiatives.

On this background, I was amused and dismayed to see this article in the Jewish Week. Here is an excerpt:

"Among his friends, David Stone said he is '“viewed as a crazy left-winger'” for his opinions on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. But he confessed to walking out of a meeting Monday with the new PLO representative to the U.S. '“disheartened'” by what he heard. 'I have to tell you that a guy trying to reach out to people on a day like that might have begun by expressing some sympathy,'” he said, referring to the Palestinian suicide bombing in Netanya that killed five Israelis. '“But I found him very unsympathetic.'” The PLO representative, Afif Safieh, had told his audience at a luncheon of the Israel Policy Forum that to achieve peace '“reconciliation'” was needed by both Israelis and Palestinians. But he noted that since Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas met in February, there are 3,000 more Palestinians in Israeli jails. Safieh, 55, pointed out that Israel refuses to release those “with blood on their hands.'” '“If we applied the same criteria to Israel,' he continued, ' I would hardly find any Israelis to talk to.'” When Stone later challenged him on that, Safieh '—who assumed his post on Nov. 1 '— said he saw no difference between Palestinian suicide bombers and Israelis, all of whom must serve in the military. '“I found that truly horrifying,'” Stone told The Jewish Week. '“If this is the way he feels '— that a soldier in the line of duty is the same as a guy who blows up in a nightclub '— he is not the one we want to sit down to have lunch with. ... I must admit I left there feeling very uncomfortable."

Oh, and I was sorry to find out the David Stone was disheartened and horrified on a day when five Israelis were killed in Netanya. I hope it did not cause indigestion from the nice lunch.

Sharon - Where is your kippa?

While the political shuk continues to trade players faster than I traded baseball cards as a kid, one type of player is conspicuous in his/her absence: one with a kippa (yarlmulke). Sharon has acquired some 40 odd politicians and somehow has not found one that identifies with the religious public in Israel. For a centrist party, attempting to appeal to many colors in the Israeli rainbow, you would think that Ariel Sharon could find a kippa equally as fast as he could find a druse politician. I have a hard time believing that all of the political, rabbinic and business leaders in the Dati (religious) camp are too far right for Kadima. And, I find it disappointing that he has not found one yet.

The suggestion below came from Meir (do not know your last name) in one of the comments on the blog.

"Meir said...

You didn't yet post on Mofaz leaving Likud for Kadima, but I wanted to suggest that[Zevulun] Orlev join Kadima. What an opportunity for him and his followers to inject some kavod back to Kipa sruga. He should negotiate for the education portfolio. Sharon needs a kipa in his governmenet and Orlev won't ever fit in with eitam et al in ichud leumi. Let him bring with him Gila Finkelstein."

Does anyone have any other suggestions for Kippas (or the female equivalent) that you want to suggest to Sharon?

Web 2.0 Feature(s) Exits

Yahoo bought del.icio.us on Friday for an undisclosed amount of money. Meaning, it probably was not a large dollar amount. Read this post by Om Malik and the articles he links to. Some of the comments are instructive as well.

This is part of the phenomenon I wrote about in earlier posts (here, here and here ) on entrepreneurs building companies to sell early. You sell early if you do not have venture capital (although del.icio.us did have a small amount of venture capital ($1.3M) as many of the commenters on my earlier posts pointed out. While you can build features and sell them (if they are good enough) to Google and Yahoo, I would have liked to see del.icio.us try to build a big company. It makes you wonder whether any of these web 2.0 darlings are long term companies???

Bat Mitzvahs

With God's help, our oldest daughter will become Bat Mitzvah this year right after Pesach (Passover). I have a running joke with our daughter that I have rented out a car mechanic's garage for the festivities to keep costs under control. About every two weeks, she kiddingly asks me whether I have made the down-payment on the garage and who will clean it beforehand.

The point we have been trying to get across is that the core of the Bat Mitzvah is in the learning and studying that you do with your parents in preparation for "coming of age." The party or celebration itself is secondary in this spiritual experience. The learning project requires consistent time commitment and focus as do many things when one transitions to adulthood. The "party" is fun but fleeting. Religious and spiritual commitments are demanding and time consuming but very fulfilling and, if properly conditioned before a bar or bat mitzvah, can set the stage for a lifetime of fulfillment and commitment.

I wrote this post today and not in 5 months because of this article on a $10 MILLION Bat Mitzvah celebration in Long Island (here is a link to all of the articles). The only aberration here is the absolute dollar number. Bar and Bat Mitzvah celebrations have been spiraling out of control for many years now. This is true in the Orthodox, Conservative and Reform worlds. While it has been mostly true in the more affluent United States, hints of this lavishness have begun to appear in Israel as well.

I do not want anyone to think that I am against bat mitzvah celebrations, it is an important milestone. However, they need to be done in a normal proportion. We need to put the meaning back into Bar and Bat Mitzvahs and focus on the primary goal and not the fleeting celebrations. There are better uses for Jewish money than 'keep up with the Jones' parties." Let's stop for a collective second to think how many poor people we could feed for the cost of the some of these parties. Now that would be a (bat) Mitzvah!

Israel - Worldwide Leader in Recycling

What is that you say? Worldwide leader in recycling? Israel? Yes. It is true. Israel leads the world in recycling POLITICIANS! All kinds of politicians: Right wing and left wing, younger and older, accused/indicted and honest ones (if there is such a thing).

Today's recycled bottle is Tzachi Hanegbi. In the week that the newspaper reports he will be charged in a form of corruption for political appointees, we learn that Hanegbi, the interim Chairman of the Likud Party, has bolted his Party for Ariel Sharon's Kadima party. The cynical columnists have joked that the Kadima party will hold its meetings in the Maasiyahu prison given the amount of investigated or indicted people on their party list. I say, what do we expect?

Apparently, there is neither accountability nor personal shame in Israeli politics (previous post s here and here) and nobody sends "the bums home." Why, Shimon Peres lost more elections than ........ and he came back as Labor leader and Prime Ministerial candidate multiple times! Ehud Barak was run out of office after the Camp David gamble that Arafat turned into the third intifada and now he too is trying to ascend the throne again. Matan Vilnai, having thrown his lot with Shimon Peres in the Labor Primary and lost (see previous post here), is now part of the inner security cabinet in the Amir Peretz's "new"Labor Party. Yossi Beilin cooked up Oslo, ran his own shadow foreign policy after labor lost the last election and he refuses to go away. A friend of mine once remarked that everything in Israel is like this. Nobody resigns, not even the national Football (soccer) coach who has not led Israel to the world cup many times in a row. In America, Al Gore, having won the popular vote but losing the Presidency did not try again four years later. Why? Because he knows when it is time to move on.

That is why so many people can't figure out who to vote for. There are no fresh faces. This country excels at recycling politicians They lose, get used, spent but not thrown away and somehow they roll Themselves into the recycling bin. (see this picture on the left of Tsachi Hanegbi with Recycled bottle art. Try to figure out who is recycled here and which is the art??).

Being in a position of power for too long is corrupting. It gives the feeling of absolute power. The powerful party central committees, home of political graft will once again send us recycled politicians. The same plastic in a different form. So once again this election, we will see the same slightly more wrinkled faces (except for Amir Peretz). Shimon Peres will be a minister yet again, and Tsachi Hanegbi will now ply his political appointments game in Kadima instead of the Likud and so on and so on.

We might as well save the redundancy. Why not print plastic soda bottles with faces of politicians. That way, even we, the voters and citizens can participate in the recycling. However, if we citizens are smart, we can find our voice, take a page from the US and Throw The Recycled Bums OUT!!

Throw the Bums Out paraphenalia
Somebody posted this comment on a web 2.0 blog. I am not running.

Are Social Networks a Category or a Feature?

See this post by David Hornik who argues that Social Networks 3.0 are about surrounding specific content with social features. I agree completely with his analysis and have been suggesting that for a while to the parade of social networking entrepreneurs who keep coming through the office. MySpace is about music, Digg is about technology and Del.icio.us is about "bookmarks" and they all wrap it with social networking elements.

Added Web Tidbits:

1. For a good discussion on Google's Direction, click here for an interesting roundtable from SiliconValley.com
2. John Battelle on Google Vs. Ebay
3. Business Week article suggesting that Google's print ads are off to a slow start
4. and Reuters on Madison's Avenue's wary reaction to Google
5. Om Malik on Yahoo turning the aircraft carrier
6. And, lastly, Carl Howe for the Seeking Alpha's MediaStockBlog on Google, Apple and TV

Skipping a Heart Beat

By now, most of have you have heard about this morning's homicide bombing in the Sharon Mall in Netanya. Already, 5 people have been killed and 50+ wounded. In a country as small as Israel, this is a national tragedy. Everyone knows someone who knows someone.

Today, we had our own "knows someone" that Thank God had a happy ending. My wife's elderly grandparents live in Netanya. They are in their 70s and are Holocaust survivors. After the pigua (attack), I called them and could not find them. I know that they frequent the Sharon Mall.

2 hours later my wife found them back at their apartment. Here is the story they recounted: They were in the Sharon Mall shopping. As always, Bubba (my wife's grandmother) wanted to leave (she is always in a hurry). As they were walking toward the exit, Zayde (my wife's grandfather) told her that he wanted to her to buy her perscription drugs in the mall instead of their usual pharmacy drugstore so they turned away from the mall exit and went back to the drugstore. As they walked into the drugstore inside the mall and got on line, the bomber exploded himself at the exit/entrance they were headed for. Bubba says that Zayde saved her life (quite an admission for her :)) . By the evening she was already saying that they saved each others life :)

God continues to shine on them. They both escaped the Holocaust under difficult circumstances. They moved to Israel from the DP camps and then moved to America where they established quite a family. Bubba was a coat factory worker and Zayde a baker. They retired to Israel ten years ago where Bubba became a self-made billionaire. Just ask her! Every grandchild and great-grandchild that is born she calls a billion dollar dividend that Hitler never expected her to see.

Bubba and Zayde will be with us for this shabbat where hopefully their "billion-dollar" great-grandchildren will cherish Bubba and Zayde and their latest miraculous escape from the modern day Jew-killers, homicide bombers. I hope and pray that they live to see many more dividends and that we all live to see the day when these fanatic murderers stop trying to kill Bubba and Zayde and all of us just because we are Jews. May we know happier times.

Jerusalem - Ghost Town?

I have thought about writing this piece for well over a year and sending it in to the Jewish Week newspaper in NY. Writing this blog has pushed me to finally get around to it.

When I was growing up in New York, Jews from the area spent the summer in Mountain Bungalow Colonies in upstate New York or on the South Shore of Long Island. The wealthier Jews purchased homes in Vacation Village, Long Beach or, later, in the Hamptons. These were Holiday homes, Summer homes and the like.

As Jews have become wealthier some of them are buying third homes and others are first time buyers of second homes. But these days, the target is different - Jerusalem. American Jews from Los Angeles to the Five Towns and Teaneck are buying second and third homes in the Holy City for use on Holidays such as Passover (although I think most still go to Florida), Sukkot, Winter Break and even for some, during the summer. When you add to this the growing anti-semitism in France and the interest of French Jews in Jerusalem real estate, what you get is the Jerusalem-home-buying trend turning into a tidal wave.

There are some positive aspects to this trend. It is a wonderful achievment that American Jewry has prioritized Israel and Yerushalyim for their spare dollars and spare time. Bringing Jewish children to the center of Jewish life can only be good. However, there are some unintended side effects to this phenomenon that I fear could unravel Jerusalem if they are not addressed.

There is a shortage of property in Jerusalem. This is particularly true of the central neighborhoods around town (Rehavia, shaarei Chesed, Katamon, Talbieh, German Colony) where most tourists like to buy and where the municipality is trying desperately to invest in and gentrify. This global market for Jerusalem homes is driving up the cost of real estate to stratospheric prices. Homes in the central neighborhoods have doubled in price in the last 4 years to approximately $700 per square foot ($7000+ per Sq. meter). Your average Israeli cannot afford to purchase these homes and are moving out of Jerusalem.

As such, you have buildings in Jerusalem where there is one resident living alone and others where the lights are only on during the Holidays. Sellers routinely wait for Holiday time to see if they can get a better price from the tourists coming into town. While this may be globalization and capitalism at its best, it is a municipal and Jewish nightmare.

There are 300,000 Arabs on the other side of town. If we keep emptying Jerusalem of Jews because they cannot afford housing prices, what will become of city? Who will vote in municipal elections? Is an Arab mayor not a possibility if this trend continues? Who will buy from the shopkeepers and keep them in town? We already have empty buildings. What's next? Empty blocks? an entire ghost town?

I have thought long and hard about the solution to this problem and given my capitalist DNA, I am hard pressed to come up with a great suggestion. But here are my 2 perscriptions if anyone is listening:

1. Preferred Solution - Aliya
The preferred solution is clearly for those American and French Jews purchasing the houses to make Aliya and move to Israel. Life is good here. We have Heinz ketchup now (did not when I arrived), slightly more palatable tax rates, job opportunities, reasonable education, community and Nefesh B'nefesh which makes the bureacracy and social aspects a lot easier. Come move here. You will like it and I am sure you will bring with you all of your vast talents to improve society and the economy. Some will say I am naive for even making this pitch. I do not think so.

2. Less Preferred Solution - Non resident tax
We need to level the playing field by making it more expensive for non-residents to purchase homes in Jerusalem. While this hurts me to the core of my low taxes conservative economic DNA, the tax base in Jerusalem is very small and losing our population because of the cost of housing is making the situation worse. There should be an extra substantial municipal property purchase tax for non-residents and an increased Arnona/property tax (dare I say double). This money should go into a fund to provide affordable rental housing around the city. It could also be used as an offset to reduce the tax burden on shopkeepers and businesses in Jerusalem who are lacking for business due to empty homes.

None of this is easy. Moving to Israel is complex and taxes are never a panacea. But, after waiting for 2000 years to come back to Jerusalem, I do not want to lose it to ourselves.

Do you have any better suggestions?

Calling the Israeli Government - Is Anybody Home?

In an article titled "Ministry to Crack Down on Illegal VOIP Usage," Sharon Wrobel of the Jerusalem Post (not in the online edition) reports that the Israeli Ministry of Communications launched an investigation into Israel's 56 ISPs "regarding the illegal usage of international calls via voice over internet technology..." Sounds Salacious!

Click Here for Globes article.

The article continues " 'We are calling internet companies to adhere to the terms of their licenses and make sure their systems are not being abused by non licensed parties for the usage of VOIP. This is not directed against Skype and other VOIP companies but to clamp down on private individuals and private communications businesses who illegally use VOIP technology for selling international phone cards' said the spokesman for the Ministry [of Communications]"

The article continues to tell us the Director General of the Ministry says that this illegal activity seriously harms the licensed international carriers by "taking away revenue and pushing down prices." Heaven forbid! Pushing down prices - not that!

It is bad enough that broadband internet access in Israel is slow as a turtle (which impacts the quality of VOIP) but now the government wants to use protectionism to protect incumbent carriers and keep consumer prices artificially high. I contrast this to US FCC Chairman Powell's remarks in May 2004 to the RBOCs "You ought to be terrified because we are lowering the barriers to offering a service to which you have a dedicated massive infrastructure."

Here is a news bulletin for the Israeli Government and Bureaucrats: You cannot stop the proliferation of technology in our global, connected world. Not VOIP and not others. The cost of communication services is dropping worldwide, the RBOCs in the US are in trouble. If the Government of Israel wants to be anti-consumer, be prepared for some of the consequences of stunted growth(more on this in an upcoming post). However, if you want technology and communications to flourish in our little oasis in the desert then get with the program and get on the side of the consumer.