The Economy (Continued)

First it was announced that foreign investment was down 96%. Then Ahmadinejad declared that three zeros would be dropped from Iran's rial currency, which Khabar Online labels the world's third weakest currency, "only stronger than dobra of Sao Tome and Vietnamese dong."

Meanwhile, the administration and Majlis have been bickering over a subsidy reform bill, which was finally voted on this month. Once implemented, the plan would phase out food and energy subsidies during the next five years as to reflect true market prices for those goods. The plan, which just received the requisite final approval of the Guardian Council, is widely expected to stoke prices and hurt poor and rural communities, Ahmadinejad's (electoral) base of support.

In 2007, when Ahmadinejad tried to implement a similar measure with respect to gasoline subsidies -- resulting in a 25% increase in the price of gas -- 19 gas stations were torched in the nationwide "gasoline riots." The measure was later withdrawn.

And now most recently today, a new limit has been placed on the amount of money that Iranians can withdraw from their bank accounts (150 million rials, $15,000 USD). With inflation well into double-digit figures, one has to wonder whether this measure is an attempt to curb against what may already be an inevitable "run on the bank."

So where is all of that oil money going?

A newspaper tied to current Terahn Mayor Mohammed Qalibaf (a conservative rival to Ahmadinejad) has already reported a $66 billion deficit between the amount deposited in Iran's Central Bank and the state revenues that were reported by the Ahmadinejad's administration. This was on top of an audit Qalibaf's office was already conducting on the Mayor's office between 2003-2005, when Ahmadinejad was in office before becoming president. There is an estimated $300 million dollars missing during those two years.

Add 'kleptocracy' to the ever-growing list of labels that apply to this regime.