No glass ceiling in Israel

Op-ed: Israel is not a failed capitalist country; while socioeconomic gaps exist, so do opportunities

Reuters | Published: 02.11.11, 10:20

I’m not very wealthy, but I always made enough money to be satisfied. At the beginning of each month, when the credit card bills arrive, when the rent is paid along with municipal taxes and hydro, and when on top of it another NIS 4,800 (roughly $1,300) is gone to pay for my kids’ kindergarten, I wonder what the people who earn less than me do. How do they survive?

The answer is complex. This country is home to population groups that can barely keep their head above water; we are facing immense distress in our healthcare system, difficulties pertaining to our education system, and numerous gaps. Yet nonetheless, something good is being done here.

While the entire Western world was facing mad economic tailspin, with global real estate prices dropping below construction costs and with banks collapsing, around here we were able to continue our preoccupation with the familiar Mideastern troubles. The data point to economic growth, the Israeli economy is stable, and foreign investment is growing. What does this mean for individual citizens? Seemingly nothing. However, one cannot examine government policy only though individual eyes.

Israel is a capitalist country. This means that we shall always have poor people, wealthy people, and a middle class. A failed capitalist state is one that does not afford individuals the opportunity to improve their economic situation. Yet Israel is not like that.

Work, housing available

I look around me and despite the complaints see people who work hard and are able to make progress. I meet people who were born into poverty yet found their way out of it. Indeed, a young or older couple will have trouble buying an apartment in Tel Aviv or in Jerusalem because of the high prices, yet alternatives do exist and nobody can tell me otherwise.

Those who wish to work in the State of Israel will find work and those who seek housing will find it if they move beyond the center of the country. There is no glass ceiling in Israel, and this is so thanks to our economic growth.

So where is our weak point? The minority that does not get the opportunities. The people who cannot take advantage of the springboards offered by Israel through the education system and the military. These are the people who are not included in our policy prescriptions, but rather, merely need support.

There is no arguing that we need to improve. Yet shallow, populist discourse that on the one hand endorses every worker strike (that boosts our expenditures) yet on the other hand criticizes the government over the absence of profits from out growth is certainly not the solution.