It is a subsidy.The government wants to make people thank them for the cheap goods and services they receive thanks to the generosity of the government. What it doesn't say is why should a domestically produced car with a labor cost of perhaps $3 an hour cost as much as a car produced in the west with labor cost of $40 an hour.
Yaraneh is the Farsi translation of the word subsidy.
Many goods in Iran have traditionally been subsidized by the government (since Reza Shah time and probably before too) for less privileged people mostly in rural areas to be able to afford them despite not being able to keep up with the global rate of inflation and economic growth.
Iran's economy has never been based on the usual supply and demand concept. Due to the reliance of the nation on oil as the sole provider for the whole population, Iran is considered a severe case of a consumer nation. Very little production occurs when the level of consumption is taken into account.
Of course, subsidies are a recipe for failure no matter where and for what purpose they are implemented. In some cases, subsidies act as a stimulus for a lagging economy and can be considered a temporary band-aid until things get rolling again, but can never be sustained for an extended period. That said however, oil producing nations have a much better chance at surviving economic disasters due to the fact that oil is an exceptional commodity on which almost everything and everyone relies. These nations (Iran, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Kuwait and such) can afford to provide subsidies for much longer periods than economies that rely mostly on manufacturing and services(China, USA, Japan).
Iran's subsidies were bound to cause a massive failure and should have been slowly taken away in the past 20 years (after the Iran-Iraq war), but since in Islamic Republic the quote "Eghtesad Male Khar Ast" (economy is for donkey) has been the verse of the night for years, no one gave a shit.
AN's government learned about how weak and passive a nation of 70 million can be despite the harsh type of fascism that was imposed on them. They also learned how much easier plundering a country can become if the population's middle class is deprived of their most basic rights and privileges, so they have decided to take these subsidies away in the name of "Hadafmand Kardane Yaraneha". Economically they are doing what should have been started years ago hence arguably the right thing, but there's no doubt in mind that not the least bit of wisdom or patriotism exists behind their motives. They're simply breeding a humongous cash-cow that Islamic Republic never had and they're ready to face the consequences.
What are those consequences you ask? I don't know, but I can only feel sorry for those who are hoping the taking away of subsidies will be the demise of Islamic Republic. It will most likely be their new life-line and the end of middle-class as we know it in Iran.
Many goods in Iran have traditionally been subsidized by the government (since Reza Shah time and probably before too) for less privileged people mostly in rural areas to be able to afford them despite not being able to keep up with the global rate of inflation and economic growth.
Iran's economy has never been based on the usual supply and demand concept. Due to the reliance of the nation on oil as the sole provider for the whole population, Iran is considered a severe case of a consumer nation. Very little production occurs when the level of consumption is taken into account.
Of course, subsidies are a recipe for failure no matter where and for what purpose they are implemented. In some cases, subsidies act as a stimulus for a lagging economy and can be considered a temporary band-aid until things get rolling again, but can never be sustained for an extended period. That said however, oil producing nations have a much better chance at surviving economic disasters due to the fact that oil is an exceptional commodity on which almost everything and everyone relies. These nations (Iran, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Kuwait and such) can afford to provide subsidies for much longer periods than economies that rely mostly on manufacturing and services(China, USA, Japan).
Iran's subsidies were bound to cause a massive failure and should have been slowly taken away in the past 20 years (after the Iran-Iraq war), but since in Islamic Republic the quote "Eghtesad Male Khar Ast" (economy is for donkey) has been the verse of the night for years, no one gave a shit.
AN's government learned about how weak and passive a nation of 70 million can be despite the harsh type of fascism that was imposed on them. They also learned how much easier plundering a country can become if the population's middle class is deprived of their most basic rights and privileges, so they have decided to take these subsidies away in the name of "Hadafmand Kardane Yaraneha". Economically they are doing what should have been started years ago hence arguably the right thing, but there's no doubt in mind that not the least bit of wisdom or patriotism exists behind their motives. They're simply breeding a humongous cash-cow that Islamic Republic never had and they're ready to face the consequences.
What are those consequences you ask? I don't know, but I can only feel sorry for those who are hoping the taking away of subsidies will be the demise of Islamic Republic. It will most likely be their new life-line and the end of middle-class as we know it in Iran.
IMO..removing subsidies is a good thing..it would happen anyway in a post IRI enviroment..the problem is however the system..and to that end..god knows what's in store for us in next few months...if..and its a big if...this whole removal of subsidies was done on a pragmatic, step by step..transparent way...it would lead to the economic boost for Iran..this still could happen if somehow the nuke deal is sorted out and the sanctions are removed..lot of if's...
i agree, whatever AN does for Iranian people is, in a prgmatic way, good for the country.
executing people in public, in long term, is beneficial to our nation and goes a long way towards enriching our cultural background. In addition, imprisoning the intellectuals, artists, film directors also in a long term would cause our culture to rise from the ashes.
removing subsidies is an excellent idea......
and then you wake up to a CIVIL WAR.
loooooooooooooooooooooooool
executing people in public, in long term, is beneficial to our nation and goes a long way towards enriching our cultural background. In addition, imprisoning the intellectuals, artists, film directors also in a long term would cause our culture to rise from the ashes.
removing subsidies is an excellent idea......
and then you wake up to a CIVIL WAR.
loooooooooooooooooooooooool
Keyvan,
You know my view on AN and I.R and I don't believe taking these subsidies away is going to cause a revolution or anything, but the nagging culture needs a massive shock. This is it.
It'll hurt many people, but at least it's not as bloody as a war. Iranians need to get a taste of reality. They need to find out what consequences can be faced if bad choices are made or more importantly if "no choices" are made.
It seems like no matter how thick of a stick is shoved up their ass they keep taking it and come to terms with it by resorting to Emam Zaman, Hossein and bullshit as a way of finding peace.
Well let's see how they're going to handle years and years of unnecessary poverty just because they were too passive on the big decisions that affected their homeland while they kept looking for Emam Zaman to come out of a well and save them. This is exactly what they asked for and boy did AN deliver?!
More than an economical shock, this will be a cultural shock with results that will prevail in about a decade or two. We might be in for a turning point in our cultural history. When Emam Reza fails to feed hungry children. When Emam Hossein's bravery stories fail to bring heat to homes, there will be waves of young kids who will grow up to despise all these superstitious bullshit and want answers.
I'm not saying anything positive will come out of this. I'm just saying, a different generation of humans is about to be bred in the hands of much poorer Iranian parents.
You know my view on AN and I.R and I don't believe taking these subsidies away is going to cause a revolution or anything, but the nagging culture needs a massive shock. This is it.
It'll hurt many people, but at least it's not as bloody as a war. Iranians need to get a taste of reality. They need to find out what consequences can be faced if bad choices are made or more importantly if "no choices" are made.
It seems like no matter how thick of a stick is shoved up their ass they keep taking it and come to terms with it by resorting to Emam Zaman, Hossein and bullshit as a way of finding peace.
Well let's see how they're going to handle years and years of unnecessary poverty just because they were too passive on the big decisions that affected their homeland while they kept looking for Emam Zaman to come out of a well and save them. This is exactly what they asked for and boy did AN deliver?!
More than an economical shock, this will be a cultural shock with results that will prevail in about a decade or two. We might be in for a turning point in our cultural history. When Emam Reza fails to feed hungry children. When Emam Hossein's bravery stories fail to bring heat to homes, there will be waves of young kids who will grow up to despise all these superstitious bullshit and want answers.
I'm not saying anything positive will come out of this. I'm just saying, a different generation of humans is about to be bred in the hands of much poorer Iranian parents.
Removal of subsidies would be good in the long term if every thing was the way it supposed to be and IR economy was functioning under normal parameters .
What part of the “economy” is working normally under IR?!!
Are there safety nets to protect weaker section of the society? This is only going to force people further in to the poverty and more subservient to dictatorship.
There is absolutely nothing good about this.
We also should ask where money saved on subsidies going to go. I am sure it is not going to be spend on more hospitals, schools, sport facilities or any thing of that nature. The beneficiaries are going to be likes of Hezbollah.
As Gandhi once said, poverty is the worst form of violence.
What part of the “economy” is working normally under IR?!!
Are there safety nets to protect weaker section of the society? This is only going to force people further in to the poverty and more subservient to dictatorship.
There is absolutely nothing good about this.
We also should ask where money saved on subsidies going to go. I am sure it is not going to be spend on more hospitals, schools, sport facilities or any thing of that nature. The beneficiaries are going to be likes of Hezbollah.
As Gandhi once said, poverty is the worst form of violence.
arnt iranians already getting a taste of reality. I mean how much worse can it get for iranians. there is no social , political , or cultural freedom and 40 percent of the population either lives in poverty or is on the verge of poverty and if you complian to saret mizanan migan khafeh shoo. furthermore, there is no more clean air in iran. so no more breathing freedom either.
natijeyeh khod kafa shodan ba mehr emam zamanam didim.
that makes one wonder; what is the point of being alive if live in iran. every aspect of your life is set and controled by the government. what motavations would an iranian have to live for the next day (maybe immigrating to the west would be motivation???). thus, i think iranians are at the end of the line already, it just cant get any worst when people lose all their motivation for life.
natijeyeh khod kafa shodan ba mehr emam zamanam didim.
that makes one wonder; what is the point of being alive if live in iran. every aspect of your life is set and controled by the government. what motavations would an iranian have to live for the next day (maybe immigrating to the west would be motivation???). thus, i think iranians are at the end of the line already, it just cant get any worst when people lose all their motivation for life.
Oh you're very emotional about this and wrong for the most part.
Iran is not Tehran. There's plenty of fresh air in Iran, but not much in Tehran.
No, Iranians haven't got a taste of reality yet because subsidies were protecting them to a certain degree. As bad as the inflation has been for the past 30 years, it's been much slower and easier to cope with than the massive shock of subsidies disappearing. I digress though.
The taste of reality comes when down the road statistics get published on how a nation of 75 million with vast oil reserves made absolutely no progress in production, national investments and economic growth, while little deserted-lands in Qatar, Bahrain, UAE got saturated with all sorts of money generating ventures despite all the barriers that an ancient regional power like Iran never had to worry about.
The taste of reality will come when we who live abroad will have to give up on many things just to feed our families back home. It will no longer be just "a nice thing to do". It'll be the only responsible thing to do. Have you met Cubans who live in Canada and US? We will have lots to share with them.
The taste of reality will be disappearance of middle-class in Iran. It's happening all over the world, but much faster in Iran. It'll be rich and poor with nothing in between. A dressed up version of slavery will be knocking on Iran's doors and social awareness will hit rock-bottom. Corruption will skyrocket even higher than it current levels and theft will be normal business like it is in all poor countries.
Poverty has many definitions. What most people in Iran are experiencing is not poverty. It's a struggle. Poverty has yet to come for most people.
Iran is not Tehran. There's plenty of fresh air in Iran, but not much in Tehran.
No, Iranians haven't got a taste of reality yet because subsidies were protecting them to a certain degree. As bad as the inflation has been for the past 30 years, it's been much slower and easier to cope with than the massive shock of subsidies disappearing. I digress though.
The taste of reality comes when down the road statistics get published on how a nation of 75 million with vast oil reserves made absolutely no progress in production, national investments and economic growth, while little deserted-lands in Qatar, Bahrain, UAE got saturated with all sorts of money generating ventures despite all the barriers that an ancient regional power like Iran never had to worry about.
The taste of reality will come when we who live abroad will have to give up on many things just to feed our families back home. It will no longer be just "a nice thing to do". It'll be the only responsible thing to do. Have you met Cubans who live in Canada and US? We will have lots to share with them.
The taste of reality will be disappearance of middle-class in Iran. It's happening all over the world, but much faster in Iran. It'll be rich and poor with nothing in between. A dressed up version of slavery will be knocking on Iran's doors and social awareness will hit rock-bottom. Corruption will skyrocket even higher than it current levels and theft will be normal business like it is in all poor countries.
Poverty has many definitions. What most people in Iran are experiencing is not poverty. It's a struggle. Poverty has yet to come for most people.
Depends on how documented history is studied 3 centuries from now. If sites like Wikipedia document the events leading to this situation properly with all the details, then there will be no mistaking of AN for a national hero, but if history gets documented like it has in the past, then yes, AN may become a legend.