Transparency is the essence of people’s lives.
The lack of democratic processes and structures in Iran is the most important issue threatening the country’s future. The lack of transparency in politics and governance is a serious crisis, leading to unreliable statistics, discrediting government officials, and facing the country with a financial crisis.
Despite all this, one of the most critical crises is the lack of transparency in statistics related to people’s lives.
The people, who are supposed to be the true rulers and leaders of the country, must be aware of their situation as a nation, a society, and citizens in their region.
Real and transparent statistics about people’s lives provide the public with a proper understanding of the country’s situation. It also helps policy makers, who rely on people’s votes, to identify the roots of needs, dissatisfaction, and demands of the people. The situation in America serves as a great lesson for Iranian politicians and activists. In recent years, America has experienced significant economic growth, overcoming high inflation resulting from the COVID crisis and the Russian invasion of Ukraine, by investing in job creation and workers’ rights, surpassing inflation and price growth.
But people are dissatisfied with the economic situation and prefer Trump despite his historical incompetence in livelihood and economy. This strange puzzle, with new statistics on people’s lives, is somewhat solvable. On average, 37% of Americans struggle to pay for their living expenses at various levels. This means that practically one third of American society is either unable to save at all or to a certain extent and is in debt.
The sharp increase in Americans’ reliance on credit cards with interest payments in the future indicates this situation. This does not mean that Americans have stopped consuming. Consumption growth in America has been a driving force for economic growth alongside production growth.
In conditions where there is a transparent structure for receiving citizens’ opinions and statistics, understanding the people’s situation may be possible for policymakers.
The US Census Bureau has shown through a survey called the Household Pulse Survey how and to what extent the income and expenses of one third of Americans do not match.
If we juxtapose these statistics with the comparison of the annual inflation rate to the actual price increase rate over the three-year period, understanding the roots of dissatisfaction with Biden’s economic performance, despite all these brilliant achievements, is easy.
