Summary: Finance Minister Yair Lapid broadens the scope of his plan to eliminate the value added tax for new apartments, and still gets attacked for the plan's flawed economic reasoning. Erez Cohen, former head of Israel's Real Estate Appraisers Association, is the sole voice claiming the plan might actually reduce housing prices - though even he's cynical Israel Corp, one of Israel's biggest holding companies, reports a fourth quarter loss of $406 million. What went wrong? And how had they tried to avoid this? Gilad Alper, Senior Analyst at Excellence, explains After cyber: Is Israel fast becoming a global powerhouse in the field of computer vision? Professor David Mendelovich, co-founder and CEO of Corephotonics, explains why Israel is best suited for this field New report by the Bank of Israel reiterated the fact that Israeli productivity is well below the OECD average. Why is it not improving, despite the government's best efforts? Professor Eyal Kimchi of the Hebrew University, shares his insight Start up of the week: Eccopia builds robots that clean solar panels. Why is this such a break-through? Eran Meller, Eccopia's CEO, sheds some light Music: Ronnie Hawkins-Who Do You Love Swans - A Little God In My Hands GWAR - Sick Of You Muddy Waters - Champagne & Reefer Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - More News From Nowhere
