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I don't know why we don't get along so well with Iran, we seem to have a lot in common... :rolleyes:
pajamasmedia link
Hm, large sums of government money disappearing and nobody can account for where it went? That kinda rings a bell...
Conflict between the president and legislative body? Does that happen here?
boston.com link
Rising inflation, stagnant incomes? Somehow, I feel like I can totally understand what this is like.
Interest rates below the rate of inflation? What mad-men would run a central bank like that?
Hm, I wonder if gasoline prices here in the US are really getting more expensive, or if they're just finally starting to get up to where they should have been all along...
Say, don't we heavily subsidize the agricultural industry here too?
Housing bubble? Rising unemployment? Wealth disparity?
It all seems so familiar!
pajamasmedia link
In what appears to be the biggest case of corruption in Iran, and perhaps in the Middle East, the Tehran-based Shahab News reported that the chief auditing office of the Iranian parliament (Majlis) has revealed that close to $35 billion of oil income from the financial year 2006-07 is missing.
According to Iranian law, this money should have been paid by the government of President Ahmadinejad into Iran’s central bank. Once there, the government can request the withdrawal of funds for projects, depending upon the approval of the Majlis. ... many suspect that the money has been used to finance corrupt activities of politicians surrounding the president, or the president himself....
This is a serious allegation, as this amount constitutes almost half of Iran’s total oil income for that year.
According to Iranian law, this money should have been paid by the government of President Ahmadinejad into Iran’s central bank. Once there, the government can request the withdrawal of funds for projects, depending upon the approval of the Majlis. ... many suspect that the money has been used to finance corrupt activities of politicians surrounding the president, or the president himself....
This is a serious allegation, as this amount constitutes almost half of Iran’s total oil income for that year.
It would be an understatement to say that President Ahmadinejad had a rocky relationship with the previous Majlis, whose term ended on May 27. Members were so fed up with the president’s efforts to sideline them that they tried to reduce his presidential term on two separate occasions. Although they failed, such an undertaking had never before been attempted in the history of the Islamic Republic.
boston.com link
TEHRAN (Reuters) - Ali Daryani is embarrassed at the inflationary pain he is passing on to his customers. "Sometimes we have to change the price stickers three times a day because of inflation," the 42-year-old Tehran grocer said.
Now the president's opponents in the Islamic Republic, both from the reformist minority and the victorious conservatives, could force him to rein in populist spending policies seen as partly to blame for inflation hovering around 19 percent.
Since Ahmadinejad swept to power in 2005 promising to spread Iran's oil wealth to the people, soaring world oil prices have swelled national revenues, but economists say colossal subsidies and presidential handouts have predictably fuelled inflation.
Since Ahmadinejad swept to power in 2005 promising to spread Iran's oil wealth to the people, soaring world oil prices have swelled national revenues, but economists say colossal subsidies and presidential handouts have predictably fuelled inflation.
Iranians are cushioned by a vast array of costly subsidies, but runaway prices still hit the pockets of ordinary consumers.
"The prices of rice, meat, fruit and everything else have gone up," complained Baqer Gabai, a 54-year-old retired teacher, in Tehran's Mohseni Square. "The price of chicken has doubled in six months, but my income has not changed a bit."
"The prices of rice, meat, fruit and everything else have gone up," complained Baqer Gabai, a 54-year-old retired teacher, in Tehran's Mohseni Square. "The price of chicken has doubled in six months, but my income has not changed a bit."
The previous Central Bank governor, Ebrahim Sheibani, quit last year over differences with Ahmadinejad over interest rate policy. The current governor, Tahmasb Mazaheri, has proposed bank loan repayment rates, or "profit-sharing" rates, based on inflation plus a fee -- a move analysts saw reversing a policy backed by Ahmadinejad that had sent rates below inflation.
Lacking the refining capacity to meet domestic demand, Iran had been importing at least $5 billion worth of petrol a year, which was sold cheaply to the public, encouraging waste and smuggling.
To reduce the import bill, the government began rationing petrol last year. Last week, in an apparent bid to streamline the subsidy, rationing was temporarily relaxed to let drivers buy extra petrol for five times more than the subsidized price.
To reduce the import bill, the government began rationing petrol last year. Last week, in an apparent bid to streamline the subsidy, rationing was temporarily relaxed to let drivers buy extra petrol for five times more than the subsidized price.
Ali Reza Cheloyan, a farmer in Ahmadinejad's home town of Aradan, east of Tehran, acknowledged his dependence on state assistance with fertilizer, tractors, petrol, gas oil and bread, as well as the price he gets for his wheat and cotton.
"Where you have chronic inflation, disproportionate rises in property prices relative to income, serious unemployment and underemployment, it's only natural that low-income households cannot keep up," he said. "So they rely on subsidies."
It all seems so familiar!
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