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Iran's Economic Crisis

[Wall Street Journal] Amir Taheri - Economic issues spell the most trouble for Ahmadinejad's struggling presidency. Last week tens of thousands of angry workers, forming an illegal umbrella organization, flexed their muscles against Ahmadinejad on International Labor Day in Tehran and a dozen provincial capitals. Ahmadinejad centered his 2005 presidential campaign on a promise to "bring the country's oil money to every family's dinner table." With inflation running around 18% and unemployment jumping to more than 30%, the average Iranian is worse off than three years ago - and that despite rising oil revenues. There has been a massive flight of capital, mostly into banks in Dubai, Malaysia and Austria. Ayatollah Mahmoud Shahroudi, the Islamic Chief Justice, claims that as much as $300 billion may have left the country since Ahmadinejad was sworn in. Ahmadinejad's entire economic philosophy seems to be designed to do more harm than good. He seems to believe the global economic system is a Jewish-Crusader conspiracy to keep Muslim nations in a position of weakness and dependency.
2007-05-09 01:00:00
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