More similar than I thought

In the summer of 2011, almost a half million people protested the economic inequality in Israel, sparked by an increase in the price of cottage cheese. As a result, free education was extended to begin at 3 years old (previously 5 years old) and the tax rate for coporations were frozen.

The current income and economic inequality was the topic of our lecture today by Valeria Seigelshifer, the advocacy director for Adva Center, a policy research center with a focus on equality and social justice in Israel. The root cause of this inequality in Israel dates back to the 70's oil crisis. Since then, Israel has continually moved away from the welfare state it was established as to become more privatized and business oriented.

This is a fundemental difference between Israel and the US. The US was never established as a welfare state, however, since 2001, US policy has shifted to favor the private sector. This has resulted in increasingly widening income inequality and the recession we continue to enjoy. Inequality- more money at the top than in the remainder of society collectively. This was not the vision of the founders in Israel and I do not believe this was the vision of the founders in the US.

Clearly there are many differences between Israel and the US, more persisely the presence of the military. I just finished listening to the 'Twilight of the Elites' by Chris Hayes, in which he mentiones the distance between those who serve in the miliatry and those who make decisions about the military (i.e. upper class politicians). Because they are so removed, they and their children do not serve, their decisions are disconnected from the effects of those decisions felt by those who serve and their families. He also highlighted the intense variation between the view of those political representatives who had served (far more anti-war) than those who have not. The US's miliatry is voluntary and largely privatized, the Israeli army is largely mandatory and completely government run (althought I am not an expert in this area so I many be incorrect, this is just what I was told).

The US too had a large social movement, the Occupy Movement, and I am jealous to see that the movement in Israel was able to result in actual policy changes where as Occupy lead to.... oh that's right, nothing. People can argue that it lead to awareness, but as our Jewish sages have taught me, what is awareness without action??

Pointedly, there is of course no simple answer to solve all of the US's problems as we continue to debate how to appropriately cut social services, military spending and raise taxes to begin to balance our budget. What is interesting is that our income inequality and social unrest will not be solved with a balanced budget. Our discussions during this seminar will continue as we attempt to define what the role of the public sector (government) verses the role of the civil society (the nonprofit sector) verses the business sector (or private sector). Where are those lines and how can they all collaborate to make a better society as a whole, if that is ineed the desired end result.

For me, it's all about education. If the argument from the right is that every individual has the responsibility to take care of themselves and if they are poor it is of their own doing and the argument from the left is that it is the responsibility of the government to take care of those who fall through the cracks, my solution is education. If the US has a strong public school education system, every child will be given the appropriate tools to 'help themselves' and less people will fall through the cracks, balancing the budget!! (that's sarcasm :) We are unfortunately a long way away from making that a reality and recreating the middle class but what I do know is that more social services cuts won't get us there.

What's your solution? What change might lead to lower income inequality in the US or Israel? Is income inequality what needs to be changed and if not than what?

For the rest of our afternoon, we joined Leket Israel, an organizaiton who collects unused food from weddings, events, hotels, ect. to redistribute to poor communities and food banks. In addition, the organization gleans left over food from fields to provide fresh produce which would have otherwise been left to rot. Together we picked a row of clementines filling a crate and a half, about 1,340 lbs, which will go to 200+ families in food baskets.

It was a great experience and reminded me of going apple picking with Barak a few months ago, I even got to eat a clementine! It made me think a lot about what nonprofit service might be missing in Los Angeles. There is an organizaiton called Food Forward who gleans from private residence all over LA, donating to local food banks, as well as many other food banks that re-distribute produce. I also know there are tight regualtions on a venue being able to donate left over food for the fear that the food might make the recipent ill, without knowing who was responsible. So whether or not this model would work in Los Angeles is a difficult question, what I do know is that it is making a difference to the disenfranchised here in Israel.