Finance Minister Roni Bar-On continues to come under attack from his fellow ministers and citizens alike, accused of have “fallen asleep at the wheel” as Israel rapidly joins the global economic crisis but Bar-On, appears unaware of the harsh realities that are inflicting the local economy.

As a result of mounting public pressure, the treasury now seems to be taking steps to guarantee pension funds, which have been hit hard in recent weeks, with a focus on Israeli 60-years-old and older, those who will be taking pensions in the near future.

Senior treasury actuary Shuki Oren calls such a plan “disastrous,” explaining it will cost NIS tens of billions and there is no source for the money at present.

Bar-On continues to express his opposition to such plans, which he insists will increase the national debt and destroy the budgetary framework, but nevertheless appears to slowly moving in the direction of the mounting criticism, perhaps aware that he can no longer sit back and observe from the outside as pension funds continue to collapse.

There is mounting pressure against Bar-On, who continues to defy fellow lawmakers, unwilling to amend his state budget to accommodate new fiscal realities.

Over the weekend, Labor Party officials led the attack against Bar-On, calling on party leader Ehud Barak to demand his resignation or his dismissal, questioning how Kadima leader Tzipi Livni plans to run for Knesset with Bar-On as her finance minister, well-aware he has failed miserably in dealing with the growing economic crisis.

Despite the fact that Bar-On is among Livni’s strongest supporters, she too leveled an attack against him, in a Channel 2 interview, in which she said the state must protect investors and it is the government’s job to work on this immediately. She stated Bar-On’s current bail-out plan is inadequate, failing to properly address the true concerns of citizens who are legitimately worried about their savings.

(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)