Nominating Senator Hagel for Secretary of Defense raises serious doubts among allies and enemies that President Obama will use all means necessary to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons. Therefore, the chances of a negotiated settlement fall (despite biting sanctions), because for negotiations to have any hope of success, the Iranians must believe the US is prepared to use massive military force. Thus, the likelihood of an Israeli attack rises.
Tag Archives: Israel
High-Tech Trips!
Elevators in Israel are high-tech. Rather than pushing an up or down button, you type in the desired floor and are assigned an elevator. Once inside, there are no buttons to push. This is an example of “fuzzy logic”. It is a faster and more economical way to allocate resources and has many applications including hot water heaters, air conditioners, medical devices, traffic lights, artificial intelligence and much more.
Boycott Brings Benefit
Sorry about not blogging yesterday; I was floating in the Dead Sea. As for the cottage cheese boycott; it’s over. Two days ago the largest dairy in Israel caved in to the nation-wide boycott and reduced the price by 21%. Not surprisingly hours later the second biggest dairy followed suit and soon after that Tara Dairy also fell into line. There are only 3 dairies here. On Monday I will tell you how gas is priced.
Booming Israeli Economy
The Israeli economy is booming! Unemployment is 6%, house prices are rising at a healthy clip and construction activity is ubiquitous. In 2 days, I have counted over 100 over cranes in use and new multifamily construction is literally, skyrocketing. The city of Modi’in, halfway between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem has a population of 90,000; it didn’t even exist 15 years ago! If you can build MF, move here fast!
Cottage Cheese Boycott
Greetings from Jerusalem! Amazingly, the big issue here is the high cost of cottage cheese! An 8 oz tub costs $2, twice the price it is in Europe. Consumers are outraged and are boycotting all cottage cheese. The high price is the result of a panoply of monopolies and cartels that dominate a wide range of business sectors in the country due to the pro-business policies of the this and the previous government.