Transparency is the soul of democracy in people’s lives.
The lack of democratic processes and structures in Iran is the most significant problem and crisis threatening the country’s future, and the lack of transparency in politics and governance is a serious crisis that, with misleading statistics, has challenged the credibility of the statesmen’s records and the lack of transparency in the financial cycle has put Iran in crisis.
Nevertheless, one of the most important issues is the crisis of lack of transparency in statistics related to people’s lives.
These very people who are supposed to be the true leaders and commanders of the country must be aware of their situation as a nation, a society, and citizens in their region.
Real and transparent statistics about the state of living provide people with a proper understanding of the country’s situation and also help politicians, who rely on people’s votes, to identify the roots of people’s needs, discontent, and demands. The situation in the United States is a great lesson for Iranian politicians and social activists. In recent years, the U.S. has experienced remarkable economic growth, and with Biden’s serious investment and support for production, employment, and workers’ rights, it has overcome the high inflation resulting from the Corona crisis and the shocks of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. It has also increased wages above the rate of inflation and price growth.
However, people are dissatisfied with the economic situation and prefer Trump despite his historical inefficiency in livelihood and economy. This strange puzzle is somewhat solvable with new statistics on people’s living conditions. On average, 37 percent of Americans face varying degrees of crisis in paying regular living expenses. This means that practically one-third of American society is either completely or partially unable to save and is in debt.
The sharp increase in Americans’ reliance on credit cards with interest payments in the coming period is an indication of this situation. This does not mean that Americans have stopped consuming; overall, consumption growth in America has been a driving force of economic growth alongside production growth.
In a situation where there is a transparent structure for receiving citizen opinions and statistics, understanding the people’s situation is possible for politicians.
The U.S. Census Bureau, with an estimate obtained through the survey known as the Household Pulse, has shown how and to what extent the expenses and incomes of one-third of Americans do not align.
If we place this statistic alongside the comparison of the annual inflation rate with the real rate of price increases during Biden’s three-year period, understanding the roots of dissatisfaction with Biden’s economic performance, despite all these remarkable achievements, is easy.
