But Austerity Works So Well!  AP Photo/Michael Sohn, pool
There are several implications to this story. One is that
ideology is more powerful than experience, especially the
ideology of small government. Another is that giving to the rich
is the prelude to taking from the poor and, for that matter, all
the rest of the un-rich. A third is that a shiny, well-packaged
candidate with Facebook skills is a poor bet for saving people
whose salaries covers less and less of their bills, or for those
who have no salary. In politics, organizing is still more
important than advertising.  The most immediate, short-term
description of Israel's distress is that for over a year, tax
revenues have fallen far short of Finance Ministry predictions.
With too little money coming in, the deficit is ballooning.  But
there's history behind this, explains economist Moshe Justman of
Ben-Gurion University. From the middle of the last decade the
government cut tax rates. The new tax structure, Justman says,
assumed a nonstop boom, w