Ismael Hossein-zadeh — Neoliberal Economics: The Plague of Iran’s Economy

The Iranian economy is mired in a deep recession. The real or productive sector of the economy is paralyzed, largely by out-of-control (and often illicit) imports that have replaced domestic production. Rent seeking, corruption and the looting of national resources is pervasive. Both unemployment and inflation are extremely high. National currency is on the verge of collapse, and financial resources of the country are disproportionately invested in unproductive or parasitic activities such as buying and selling of precious metals, foreign currencies, real estate, and the like.

What factors or forces have contributed to this wretched state of Iran’s economy?
Two major sets of culprits account for most of the economic disaster in Iran: one external, the other internal. External factors consist largely of the U.S.-sponsored economic sanctions. Internal factors are rooted primarily in the appalling mismanagement of Iran’s economy.

Debilitating mismanagement and lack of a guiding macroeconomic plan are, in turn, rooted in President Rouhani’s and his advisors’ economic outlook or philosophy.

According to this philosophy, economic affairs must be delegated to the “invisible hand” of the market mechanism: there is no role or room for the government to intervene, monitor or guide the economy. This irresponsible, out-of-date, and out-of-place doctrine is succinctly epitomized in the old aphorism that “The best government is that which governs least.”

Since adverse effects of sanctions on Iran’s economy are relatively well-known, I would rather focus here on the destructive consequences of the Rouhani administration’s laissez 
faire, or hands-off, economic outlook—an ill-conceived outlook that has aggravated, intensified or multiplied the baleful effects of sanctions....

Will Iran's leadership wake up to neoliberal as joined at the hip with neo-imperialism and neocolonialism in time to save Iran? Where is Iran's Putin?

Consortium News
Neoliberal Economics: The Plague of Iran’s Economy

Ismael Hossein-zadeh | Professor Emeritus of Economics, Drake University

John Feffer — Trump and the Iran Protests

Good article about the political situation in Iran.

Here is an aside.

“The policy of the United States should be regime change in Iran,” Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) has said. “I don’t see how anyone can say America can be safe as long as you have in power a theocratic despotism.”

Of course, this ignores US support of Wahabi and Salafi Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and UAE, which are far more repressive theocratic dictatorships than Iran's. Then, there is Israel, an apartheid state that is in effect a theocracy.

Trump is already facing something similar. After all, the president is now undeniably a member of the political elite. He’s the one implementing economic reforms that don’t benefit the vast majority. He’s the one making gobs of money off of the system. And, as in Iran, he’s the one backed by powerful religious fanatics.

But this is an aside. Read the post for the analysis. It's one of the better ones I've encountered. It bears out what I have been saying, but he doesn't say that a big issue in the protest is the result of President Rouhani's neoliberal policy that is hurting workers and other have-nots. In other words, Rouhani is really following the policy that Western neoliberals prescribe, with the predictable result social and hence politically.

LobeLog

Trump and the Iran Protests
John Feffer