My Economy, Your Economy, Our Economy

Mr. Hashemi Rafsanjani the head of the Expediency Council and the Experts Council , two top level political councils in the Islamic Republic, yesterday criticized the government of President Ahmadinejad for not abiding to the National Vision for 20 Years. The current policies of distribution of wealth (alms) he noted are not in line with national development policy. This rare expression of direct criticism is indicative of the concerns that economists and experts have voiced regarding the state of the economy in Iran. In this dimension, at least , it seems we are moving parallel to the Western or industrial world. The G-20 session in Washington, has emerged without any concrete remedy or solution for the current global crisis. While major European economies are now feeling the recession and openly expressing that the outlook is worse than expected, the US economy is not faring much better. They are dealing with a significant shrink in economic growth and also an increase in unemployment. While Japan is also following the same direction it seems that other more independent and non-aligned members of the global community are attempting to decouple their economies and some may be more successful in alleviating the pressures and delaying the effects.
I remember we had breakfast in Barcelona, in mid October, on the sidelines of the IUCN Congress with some friends , two professors from Yale and a renown Indian personality who held significant economic and political clout . He mentioned that certain European politicians were angry over the independent position of Indian diplomats in recent WTO negotiations. Apparently, the Indians had opposed the wavering of agricultural subsidies in support of their farmers and vulnerable agriculture sector. Not to mention that Americans had also insisted on keeping their agricultural subsidies for some time now. Someone , he said ; had proposed that India should take loans from strong European banks , mentioning Irish banks as potential lenders. That morning in Barcelona we had heard the news that Irish banks had faced a serious blow due to the global crisis. A few days later we heard on the news that Pakistan , which is known for its pro-west political orientation and open to foreign investment and manipulation in its economy was facing serious woes and setbacks as a backlash of what was happening in the West. The economies of developing countries are more vulnerable and their weak populations will suffer the most from the misdemeanors of capitalist leaders of New York. Particularly since the food crisis and environmental pressures have been building in recent years. Unfortunately world leaders still do not believe that all nations are passengers of the same ship. Prosperous and poor nations will all face the same destiny, sooner or later.
The picture in Iran is similar in a sense and very different in another. We are now facing difficult economic challenges due to the lowering of petroleum prices in Iran , but most of our problems also stem from the faulty and unstable policies of the current populist government in power.