Personal Loan

Tel Aviv, Israel (AHN) – Protestors in Israel are still complaining about the growing gap between rich and poor there.

At least a quarter million Israelis have poured into the streets within the past month to protest income inequality there. Many Israelis are still protesting in the streets and living in tent cities that have sprung up.

The wealthy are called “tycoons,” and until recently the focus was on how much money they gave to charity.

But now the focus is shifting to the fact that a handful of families controls the 10 largest businesses in Israel and controls a whopping 30 percent of Israel’s economy.

The land once best known for the communal kibbutz where people worked together and shared equally in the fruits of their labor is now better known as the industrialized nation with the largest gap between rich and poor.

Although some people think that it is good that street protests have focused attention on the problem, others say that it is equally important to address other factors — such as the bottomless pit of tax dollars spent on Israel’s bloated defense budget, and on creating, sustaining and protecting settlements on Palestinian lands.

In addition, some people argue that the concentration of wealth within a handful of families is not unusual in democracies. Israel is roughly on par with Belgium, France, Sweden and Switzerland, but has a much higher concentration of wealth than in Britain, Germany and the United States.

Nevertheless, Israelis are angry about the concentration of wealth among a small group of companies owned by families. Those family-owned companies make competition impossible in a wide variety of business sectors in Israel where they control cellphone companies, supermarket chains, banks, insurance companies and the media.

Protestors have poured into Israel’s streets for three Saturdays in a row, with an estimated 250,000 protesting in the streets last Saturday.

View full post on All Stories