Bank of Israel chief: Haredim killing the economy
Flug said Monday that the central reason for the decline in market growth in Israel is “the demographic trend in Israel, which includes a growth in the number of hareidim and Arabs, and the aging of the population.”
MK Aryeh Deri, Chairman of the Shas party, told Kikar Hashabat that “in normal countries, no matter how important a senior official may be, he would be fired over such a grave utterance.” Deri accused her of “slinging mud and refuse on entire sectors in Israel in order to make excuses for a financial situation for which she is responsible.”
Deputy Health Minister Yaakov Litzman (UTJ) told Kikar Hashabat that Flug's words are “baseless false accusations against families with many children, which stem from lack of knowledge and crude generalizations, which lead to unnecessary hatred and polarization.
Deri is right. In just about any other country in the West, that sort of statement would get you fired. But the level of political discourse here is often worthy of Der Sturmer, so long as you limit your attacks to Haredim. I guarantee that she won't get away with saying that about the Arabs.
MK Nissim Ze'ev (Shas) noted that “all anti-Semites used this excuse, and said that the world's financial problems are caused by the Jews. Incitement againt the Jews started mostly from financial subjects.”
Labels: Bank of Israel, Haredim, Karnit Flug
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 1:35 PM
1 Comments:
Can someone please explain this to me. Because I was under the impression that
A) There cannot be population ageing because the birth rate in Israel is positive and increasing
B) The Haredim cannot be responsible for the decline, because due to changes in government policy over the past decade or two, many, many more Haredim are contributing to the economy than before.
C) The Arabs cannot be the cause either, because their growth rate is no larger today than it was throughout the existence of the state, and is actually getting lower.
D) Any fractional decrease in market growth due to demographic causes (which I think I just disproved) would be offset by the relative growth of the Dati-Leumi population, which is the most productive in Israeli society.
An explanation would be appreciated. Thank you.
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