President. Israel is on the verge of a great transformation. The waves of Soviet immigrants now arriving there. fully motivated to improve their place in life. have the potential to reinvigorate a stalled economy. With the Russians vastly enriching the current mix of native Israelis and other immigrants. Israel now has one of the most highly skilled and innovative work forces to be found anywhere in the world. But it the Soviet immigrants potentiai to help Israel prosper is to be realized. the way has to be cleared to allow their spirit of enterprise to flourishnot to speak of that same spirit of the Israelis themselves. This means that Israels barriers to economic activity have to be lifted. Israels leader need to make some hard choices about the way its economy is governed. They have to deregulate. lower taxes. bust cartels and monopolies. encourage competition. loosen controls on the flow of capital as well as on land use. and sell off state enterprises. These are not mere theoretical concerns: if the Israeli economy is ever to begin the Job of absorbing the new immigrants. much must be done in the very near term to make the housing and industrial sectors more efficient. Once a beginning is made. however. I have little doubt that the Russian immigrants will become selfsustaining. fully contributing members of Israeli society. Having seen the failure of perhaps the most centralized. bureaucratized regime known to man. I am sure that the immigrants from the Soviet Union will provide impetus to move the Israeli society away from that model and toward a freer economy. Finally. Mr.
Identified stereotypes
Generalization that immigrants from the Soviet Union will provide impetus to move the Israeli society away from a centralized, bureaucratized model and toward a freer economy.