Things can only get better
Looks like gloomy prophecy of war of civilizations was realized in first decade of 21st century
Look at the headlines and pictures from the past 10 years: Most of the bad things that happened during this period originated in the geopolitical region of the Middle East in its wide definition. Starting from the September 11 terror attacks, through the horrible acts of terror in European and Asian capitals, through the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, through the crazy hike in the price of oil, which squeezed $3,300 billion out of the world into the treasuries of sheikhs, dictators and princes, through the Second Intifada and the Second Lebanon War, through sanctions on nuclearizing Iran, to the cruel oppression of democracy in Tehran and the stage performance of that Holocaust denier, Ahmadinejad. Looking back, the first decade of the 21st century looks like an era in which the gloomy prophecy of the war of civilizations was realized.
In the last decade of the 20th century, the world's eyes were directed at liberated Eastern Europe and awakening Africa. The free voice of the simple man was sounded out loud. In the peak of spiritual uplifting, political visionaries even spoke about a close and happy end to a human history filled with hatred and conflicts.
But history did not conclude with a happy ending. None of the old conflicts were resolved in the past 10 years. New conflicts have begun and they are bleeding. Evil is back in full force, and it's here, more real than ever, the United States' first black president Barack Obama said recently in his Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech. He will bring peace, peace will come, maybe.
Capitalism's weaknesses revealed
It was a decade of instability, of growth and downfall, of losses and gains in the markets, of a cursed economic fluctuation. The market bubbles were inflated and shattered often. The weaknesses of capitalism were revealed: It's capricious, it's blind to justice, it breeds scoundrels, it's greedy and it cannot exist without the government's helping hand. In the first decade of the 21st century it became clear that when the economy falls off a plane in the middle of the night, it can only be saved by the government. The government and the central bank; preferably with a Jew as its chairman.
The Israeli economy experienced ups and down, ups and downs, throughout the decade. Two amazing achievements and two shameful failures.
The first achievement: The introduction of industries based on knowledge and information, science and the human brain. Thanks to them, from a country which owed the world net $12 billion we have turned into a country which the world owes net $60 billion. The greatest threat on Israeli people's standard of living, the threat of a foreign currency shortage, was removed and replaced within a decade with a problem of a foreign currency surplus.
The second achievement: Price stability. The annual inflation rate in the past decade shrank to 1.5%. We recovered from the inflation disease which had destroyed our economy for generations.
These are the successes. But they are overshadowed by the failures. The first: The ongoing growth in poverty rates, in the percentage of poor families and poor children, making us the West's record-holder. To this we can add the shameful retreat in the achievements of Israel's students, the crisis in Israel's universities and the deepening gaps in education.
The second failure: A slow economic growth, at a rate of only 1.25% a year between the beginning and end of the decade. A bitter disappointment. The disappointing growth in Israeli product did not narrow the distance between Israel and the group of leading industrial countries. Many developing countries, particularly in Asia, have grown much, much faster. And they will soon catch up with us.
