Iranians Protest As Hyperinflation Begins

Sanctions are driving down the value of their currency.

The rial’s death spiral is wiping out the currency’s purchasing power. In consequence, Iran is now experiencing a devastating increase in prices – hyperinflation. As Nicholas Krus and I document in our recent Cato Working Paper, World Hyperinflations, there have been 57 documented cases of hyperinflation in history, the most recent of which was North Korea’s 2009-11 hyperinflation. That said, North Korea’s hyperinflation did not come close to the magnitudes reached in the recent, second-highest hyperinflation in the world, that of Zimbabwe, in 2008, nor has Iran’s hyperinflation – at least not yet.

This is spurring some light rioting.

Clashes and at least one spontaneous protest erupted in Tehran on Wednesday over the plunging value of Iran’s currency, as black-market money-changers fought with riot police who were dispatched to shut them down, and hundreds of angry citizens demonstrated near the capital’s sprawling merchant bazaar, where many shops had closed for the day. The official media reported an unspecified number of arrests including two Europeans.
...
“They spend billions of dollars to keep Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in power, but now they say they have no money!,” one garment seller screamed as he was cheered on by others, witnesses reported.

Posted by: Ace at 08:05 PM

Comments

1
Fluked!

Posted by: Doctor Fish at October 03, 2012 08:07 PM (lDWQr)

2 !st !

Posted by: Evilpens at October 03, 2012 08:07 PM (ck76k)

3 DAMN!

Posted by: Evilpens at October 03, 2012 08:07 PM (ck76k)

4 Obama is a stuttering clusterf*ck of a miserable failure.

Posted by: steevy at October 03, 2012 08:07 PM (6o4Fb)

5 Well, fuck 'em. After all, President Eye Candy doesn't give a fuck. Why should we?

/sarc

Posted by: Jane D'oh at October 03, 2012 08:07 PM (UOM48)

6 Hyperinflation Begins
Is that a movie trailer on YouTube?

Posted by: USA at October 03, 2012 08:08 PM (RIg+t)

7 Do we have to stop butt chugging now?

Posted by: iamahaiangttiam at October 03, 2012 08:10 PM (w2Gzf)

8 Someone needs to check Baraka's giant ear flaps for an ear piece before the debate.

Posted by: steevy at October 03, 2012 08:11 PM (6o4Fb)

9 It would be a shame if one of their gasoline refineries had an accident.

Posted by: fluffy at October 03, 2012 08:11 PM (O6q63)

10 President Eye Candy: *yawn*

Posted by: Jane D'oh at October 03, 2012 08:11 PM (UOM48)

11 Good. Another bat shit crazy idiot with delusions of grandeur, nuclear weapons and shitty finances. Just what we needed. JEF is bad enough.

Posted by: Blue Hen at October 03, 2012 08:11 PM (UW6NX)

12 It's those damned Free Masons!!!

Posted by: Reaality Cherk at October 03, 2012 08:11 PM (vY2x+)

13 We should get used to some of these economic terms, and the screaming and yelling.

Posted by: Guy Mohawk, reminding everybody we are boned at October 03, 2012 08:11 PM (PHb2k)

14 Couldn't happen to a nicer country.

P.S. May be a sneak peek at America of Earflaps wins.

Posted by: logprof at October 03, 2012 08:11 PM (V/U0X)

15

How can they be in Weimar when they already have Hitler running the place?

Posted by: imp at October 03, 2012 08:11 PM (UaxA0)

16
When Iran collapses into a quivering mass of suicidal hysteria, Preznit Ogabe will step in and save them from themselves. This accomplished by confiscating money from American taxpayers through the process of taxation, and making friends in the Middle East with our money.

Posted by: Doctor Fish at October 03, 2012 08:11 PM (lDWQr)

17 Have you seen the price of bell peppers? I may set fire to my mini-cart next time I'm at the store! Time to riot!

Posted by: Hobbitopoly at October 03, 2012 08:12 PM (d6TfZ)

18 Those idiot Presbyterians. Violent, they are.

Posted by: Jane D'oh at October 03, 2012 08:12 PM (UOM48)

19 Light rioting -- Must be a day that ends in 'day'.

Too bad, shitheels, you once had a Western civilization of sorts under the Shah. Now get on your knees 5 times a day and say inshallah.

And don't feel too bad, we probably aren't too far behind you in the inflation department.

Posted by: GnuBreed at October 03, 2012 08:12 PM (ccXZP)

20 We doing a live chat or what Ace?

Posted by: Barack Obama at October 03, 2012 08:13 PM (MrM2k)

21 No worries. They're mostly peaceful....

Posted by: B at October 03, 2012 08:14 PM (9LrE7)

22 I, for one, prefer the thread comment stream.

Posted by: sTevo at October 03, 2012 08:14 PM (VMcEw)

23 I don't like having to choose between the two.

Posted by: tasker at October 03, 2012 08:15 PM (r2PLg)

24 How about some light rioting, with an aperitif of mayhem and violence?

Posted by: It's on the menu anyway at October 03, 2012 08:16 PM (cnS/d)

25 They have been printing money to pay Russia for there shinny nuke plant and the centrifuges from China at 8000% markup and then have to replace them all thanks to the viruses. They have been printing so fast that the ink does not have a chance to dry before they ship it out.

And now Russia sent that money back when they buy oil and now they are swimming in Iranian rial that the bank have not taken back.

Posted by: Trevor (@TJexcite) at October 03, 2012 08:17 PM (PNDql)

26 But now I need to know. How are they going to sell butt chug shots?

We all buy rounds of drinks every now and then.

Posted by: sTevo at October 03, 2012 08:17 PM (VMcEw)

27 But after 3 weeks of Hyp-Inf, we will not know the affects of this on their Economy....until after the election.

OHHHH, barrys' sanctions are so fucking good that this just happened to come out hours before the debates.

"Let me be clear...having sucked my dick for hours, the urgh, ....AP and ..uhm....Rueters...have decided MY policies err are the BESTEST...and no economists were harmed in this finding...nor were they...uhm consulted"!

Posted by: hutch1200 at October 03, 2012 08:17 PM (sY14L)

28 This is treasonous.

What the fuck is Ben Bernake doing managing monetary policy for both the US and Iran?

Posted by: Hollowpoint at October 03, 2012 08:17 PM (9Taqp)

29 I just thought of Romney's best opening:

R: Mr. President, I wish you a happy 20th anniversary. Clearly our advance staffs could have done a better job of scheduling. We could have done this last night.
O: Well, thank you, Governor. Or tomorrow night.
R: Tomorrow, and move another football game? American's take that stuff seriously. This is just a presidential debate.

Game-set-match MITT.

I can dream, can't I?

I know this is not the debate open thread but with my ADD I would forget in the next 40 minutes.

Posted by: RKinRoanoke at October 03, 2012 08:18 PM (pxur/)

30 Fuck em. Fuck em in the ear.

Posted by: eastvalleyphx says fuck islam at October 03, 2012 08:18 PM (GRvW4)

31 Take two butt chugs, with some light rioting as mild exercise, and call me in the morning.

Posted by: Just what the doctor ordered at October 03, 2012 08:18 PM (cnS/d)

32 Didn't Obama say Benghazi was Light Rioting?

Posted by: Beto at October 03, 2012 08:18 PM (BAnPT)

33 Hate to say this, but anybody wanna bet that BO is going to side with the Mullahs in Iran?

Posted by: MrCaniac at October 03, 2012 08:18 PM (Zd/NW)

34 24 How about some light rioting, with an aperitif of mayhem and violence?

With a good box of wine and a cigar IYKWIMAITYD.

Posted by: iamahaiangttiam at October 03, 2012 08:18 PM (w2Gzf)

35
Persians!

Posted by: toasty at October 03, 2012 08:18 PM (W2qJe)

36 The rotting ediface of the mullahs' power could be pushed over with ease, if we had a president.

As I said before, Iran is a small and weak country that produces barely 3% of the world's oil. That we have eaten shit from these beggars for three decades is a farce and a tragedy.

Posted by: toby928© at October 03, 2012 08:19 PM (QupBk)

37 How about some light rioting, with an aperitif of mayhem and violence?
Posted by: It's on the menu anyway at October 03, 2012 08:16 PM (cnS/d)someone say my name? Present!!!

Posted by: Madamemayhem at October 03, 2012 08:19 PM (iRgZG)

38 Mayhem? is this an Allstate commercial? I love those!

Posted by: RKinRoanoke at October 03, 2012 08:19 PM (pxur/)

39 Meh. Iran will just do some back-door oil deals for hard currency. Or chemical/nuke technology ... Yay!

Posted by: ThePrimordialOrderedPair at October 03, 2012 08:19 PM (X3lox)

40 “They spend billions of dollars to keep Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in power, but now they say they have no money!,” one garment seller screamed...
---------------------------------

Oh he'll be screaming alright. He'll be selling his saliva after I cut his hands off.

Posted by: Mullah Fukka Youssay at October 03, 2012 08:20 PM (AzwZn)

41 Blockade their ports, seize their oil tankers, eliminate their refining capability and knock out electricity. I'd also indiscriminately seed the countryside with AK47 and ammo.

Sit back and watch the fun.

Posted by: toby928© at October 03, 2012 08:22 PM (QupBk)

42 Even under my rule the Persians couldn't decorate for shit! Gaudy, cheap and tacky.

Posted by: Zombie Shah at October 03, 2012 08:22 PM (wIgpo)

43 Look, I took them out once. And for good reason. And you let them up off the mat? For shame.

Posted by: Zombie Alexander the Great at October 03, 2012 08:23 PM (cnS/d)

44 http://tinyurl.com/9yb6k8e

prayer for tonights debate from the conservative mom

Posted by: phoenixgirl what did huma abedin know? team dagny at October 03, 2012 08:25 PM (Ho2rs)

45 I was going to say that Obama might feel the mullah's would like us much better if we bailed them out, but it occurs to me that the State Dep't types that Obama is likely to listen to would suggest doing that in order to maintain stability in the region.

Diplomats (who, in college, most likely admired Che) prize stability a great deal, unless it's the Shah or someone else who actually likes us.

Posted by: mallfly at October 03, 2012 08:29 PM (bJm7W)

46 I was going to say that Obama might feel the mullah's would like us much
better if we bailed them out, but it occurs to me that the State Dep't
types that Obama is likely to listen to would suggest doing that in
order to maintain stability in the region.
---
Sounds like a plan to me.

Posted by: VP Biteme at October 03, 2012 08:30 PM (6LvlL)

47 They have plenty of money. It just ain't worth shit anymore.

I have to admit it'll be poetic when it is worthless and people are wiping thieir ass with the ayatollah's face.

Posted by: Invictus at October 03, 2012 08:32 PM (OQpzc)

48 Posted by: GnuBreed at October 03, 2012 08:12 PM (ccXZP)

Thing is, 70%+ of Iran's population was born after the fall of the Shah. They *didn't* agree to an islamofascist government and have consistently done what ( little) they could to show their displeasure.

Posted by: Polliwogette: Teahada hobbit at October 03, 2012 08:36 PM (B34qS)

49 Hate to say this, but anybody wanna bet that BO is going to side with the Mullahs in Iran?

Posted by: MrCaniac at October 03, 2012 08:18 PM (Zd/NW)

No. It's a guarantee not a bet. It's why he had *nothing* to say to the people of Iran two years ago. Someone recently claimed on his behalf that he regretted that, but I find it hard to believe.

Posted by: Polliwogette: Teahada hobbit at October 03, 2012 08:40 PM (B34qS)

50 Thing is, 70%+ of Iran's population was born after the fall of the Shah. They *didn't* agree to an islamofascist government and have consistently done what ( little) they could to show their displeasure.
Posted by: Polliwogette: Teahada hobbit at October 03, 2012 08:36 PM (B34q

True

but the young people of Iran are still overwhelmingly in favor of 1) getting nukes, and 2) using them to get rid of Israel

Posted by: thunderb a conservative jew at October 03, 2012 08:40 PM (Dnbau)

51 "dollars"
how do they work ?
Moneychangers can be counted on to bet on the strong horse and Persia should go back to its Zorasterian religion. Then I might give a flying fuck about their poor oppressed.

Posted by: meleager at October 03, 2012 08:46 PM (Oo7gg)

52 I love it. I'm shocked Obama has allowed it to happen. He's probably trying to figure out how to get the sanctions dropped.

Posted by: Reactionary at October 03, 2012 09:28 PM (jfeoD)

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