*  *  *  I will begin my remarks with data from the OECD, which compared GDP per capita in its member countries with the US, broken down into factors which explain the gap between the various countries and the US. In 2011, the gap between GDP per capita in Israel and the US was close to 50 percent.
The OECD also tried to project what the picture will look like in 2060, assuming that current policy trends in the various countries, and expected demographic trends, continue. The gap between Israel and the US is expected to remain more or less the same, as Israel is forecast to decline by four places in the country ranking. This is clearly a troubling picture.