The coronavirus pandemic is creating more and more opportunities for jealousy, greed, arrogance, and lies. The world's 2,000 leading billionaires have grown their personal wealth by 27.5% over the last few months. A new report from the US Federal Reserve reveals the 50 richest Americans are now as wealthy as half the country combined.
In Israel, there are bad trends, but there are also opportunities.
So how can we turn this crisis into an opportunity?
One answer is solidarity. The vaccination campaign has proven we are still able to trust, that we can put those at highest-risk first, and make the vaccine available to all. Solidarity is an incredible driving force for growth. It will bring the social and geographic periphery into the Israeli economy and the poor, the Haredim, the Arabs, and Mizrachi Jews into the circle of growth. It will do us all good and will give a huge boost to a shattered economy. This is not about compassion or kindness. This is something the whole of Israeli society needs. Societies with huge socioeconomic gaps are untrustworthy and abusive.
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While the health crisis is immense, the ecological crisis at our doorstep is far greater. Our responsibility to the coming generations obligates we transform the energy sector so that it is 100% sourced from renewable energy sources. This will lessen the harm done to our health and ensure a huge advantage to Israeli entrepreneurs in the fastest growing market in the Western world. The environment and health go hand in hand. Accelerated development and environmental damage are the reasons for the spread of new contagious diseases. An economy and an energy sector that benefit the environment and not just the bottom line are in the interest of public health.
While small businesses collapsed absent sufficient government support, cooperatives have thrived. Togetherness has an advantage in the financial world. The Bank of Israel used a number of tools to transfer billions of shekels to the banks and the capital market. The little guy and small businesses had a hard time receiving credit. Credit unions, public banks, and the expansion of postal banking services exist in many countries and are possible here.
Unionized labor provides further support. When the education minister and Finance Ministry tried to demand teachers take a pay cut and increase their workdays without compensation, the teachers' unions were there to prevent that from happening. There were those who condemned the move, even though they themselves would never agree to have their conditions changed. The organizations won. The recent trend of slandering workers' organizations is cultivated by individuals with vested interests who are interested in their workers being in positions of weakness and without rights.
This lockdown and the coming election will take a heavy economic toll. We should exit this crisis with fewer words and more action to ensure peace, empathy, and faith have the final say.
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