Whether it's 10.5% or 16%, overall inflation doesn't seem to me to be a big concern. Take a look Figure 2 on page 9 of "Islamic Republic of Iran: 2005 Article IV Consultation -- Staff Report; Staff Statement; Public Information Notice on the Executive Board Discussion; and Statement by the Executive Director for the Islamic Republic of Iran" (International Monetary Fund, April 2006, <http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/scr/2006/cr06154.pdf>). You'll see that today's inflation rate in Iran compares, if anything, favorably to what it had been in recent times (not to mention before that).
> "In the last weeks the issue of high prices has put a lot of
> pressure on people, especially low income ones," Iranian news agencies
> quoted the supreme leader as saying.
>
> "The government and officials should look into the causes of the
> issue and solve it."
I'd recommend that the President of Iran look into employing the means for price control used by the US government during the New Deal:
<blockquote>Another World Is Indeed Possible by Martin Hart-Landsberg
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Under mounting pressure, Roosevelt directed the OPA [Office of Price Administration] to take new and more aggressive actions to limit price increases. His "Hold the Line" order in April 1943 ruled out any price increase affecting the cost of living unless it was determined to be "necessary to aid in the effective prosecution of the war." The OPA ruled that what was "necessary" would be based on determination of what was an acceptable level of profit. For manufacturing, it decided that an industry would not be able to raise its prices as long as it was earning at least the same dollar amount of profits before taxes (adjusted for changes in investment) that it had earned on average in the period 1936-39, and that these earnings were enough to cover current costs on all major product lines. A similar standard was developed for retailers.
In effect, the OPA was requiring businesses to "absorb" cost increases out of profits. The business community strongly opposed this new policy. One reason is that its implementation required firms to fill out questionnaires detailing their current and pre-war costs, sales, and profits. Businesses did not like sharing this information with the government. Even more importantly, business leaders feared that this policy would lead to the creation of politically determined standards for acceptable profits, with profit controls replacing price controls.
The OPA decided to take an especially aggressive stance towards food prices, introducing dollars-and-cents ceiling prices for critical food items. In contrast to its past approach, dollars-and-cents ceiling prices could easily be understood and monitored. While some of the new ceiling prices, such as for meat, were set by the national office, prices for the majority of the 300 goods on the designated community price list were set by district offices.
More specifically, all grocery stores were divided into one of four categories based on their size and service; each category was then assigned its own nationally determined percentage mark-up. To calculate community price ceilings, OPA district offices first calculated the local production costs of each product on the list using information supplied by local suppliers. Then they applied the national mark-up to the local costs. The result was a dollars-and-cents ceiling price for each commodity that varied by type of store and community. District offices then adjusted these ceiling prices weekly for perishable items and monthly for packaged ones.
Equally important, the OPA eventually mobilized tens of thousands of volunteers to administer and ensure retail compliance with its new control system. The combination of new controls and popular participation in their application proved to be a success. Between the spring of 1943 and April 1945, consumer prices rose less than 2 percent. Thanks to subsidies and rollbacks, food prices actually declined by more than 4 percent. This record is especially noteworthy in that it was achieved over the last years of the war, when employment was at a maximum and consumer goods production highly restricted.
Popular Participation in Price Control
The OPA program involved establishing price panels throughout the nation, each of which was generally staffed by five to seven volunteers and supported by one paid clerk. The price panels had tremendous responsibilities. For example, they were supposed to educate all retail businesses, not just those selling food, about the government's price regulations. This meant that price panel members had to be informed about price regulations for laundries, department stores, grocery stores, restaurants, and many other establishments. To carry out their educational responsibilities, panel members generally held meetings with the various retailers in their area to explain the rules and answer questions.
Price ControlPrice panels were also charged with investigating cases of alleged business non-compliance. The panels were instructed to investigate all consumer complaints. If a panel felt that a violation had occurred, panel members would hold a conference, normally in the evening, where both the consumer and retailer could argue their respective positions. If the panel determined that a violation had indeed taken place, the consumer had the right to collect any overcharge due, or sue in court for three times the overcharge or $50, whichever was larger.
Critical to the success of the panels was the work of the volunteer price panel assistants. Their job was to check that every grocery store displayed a poster showing its assigned category, a separate poster showing the dollars-and-cents price ceilings for stores in its category, and clear signs posted near each product on the community price list showing its selling price. The assistants were also to check that selling prices were no higher than the mandated ceiling prices. If problems were found and not immediately corrected, the assistants were to report the store to the relevant price panel, which then held an investigative hearing. Although price boards initially had only limited powers to fine retailers that refused to comply with the regulations, legislation in 1944 gave them the right to sue for damages on behalf of the public. From January 1945 to June 1946, a total of 71,050 sellers were required to pay over $5.1 million to the US Treasury.
An example of the effectiveness of the control effort: The OPA ordered an emergency price check of every food store in the country during a one-week period in March 1944. Over 5,000 boards participated and over 430,000 food stores were visited. A board-by-board examination of the survey showed that, where volunteers made weekly visits, the number of stores in violation dropped to 4 percent; where there were no regular visits, as many as 75 percent of the stores were found to be overcharging.
<http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/hartlandsberg071105.html></blockquote>
Popular participation is the key. -- Yoshie <http://montages.blogspot.com/> <http://mrzine.org> <http://monthlyreview.org/>