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Have Your Say: Are Gov’t Measures to Cut Prices Enough? | شو قولك: هل الإجراءات الحكومية لخفض الأسعار كافية؟

January 12, 2011 View Comments

protest call 166x300 Have Your Say: Are Govt Measures to Cut Prices Enough? | شو قولك: هل الإجراءات الحكومية لخفض الأسعار كافية؟انتشرت منذ الأسبوع الماضي نداءات لإقامة مظاهرات في مختلف محافظات المملكة يوم الجمعة القادم بعنوان “يوم الغضب الأردني” احتجاجا على ارتفاع الأسعار.

موجة المظاهرات متواصلة في تونس والجزائر ومحللون سياسيون يتساءلون عن “أثر الدومينو” وانتقال هذه الموجة لبقية الدول العربية.

مساء أمس أعلنت الحكومة الأردنية حزمة إجراءات لتخفيض الأسعار منها تخفيض الضرائب على المحروقات ودعم سلع أساسية وتعيين أبناء المناطق الأقل حظا في وزارات التربية والصحة والتنمية الاجتماعية وشؤون المرأة. الناطق الرسمي باسم الحكومة أيمن الصفدي قال أن هذه الإجراءات لا علاقة لها بالاعتصامات المزمع حدوثها يوم الجمعة 14 يناير.

شو قولك: هل تعتقد أن هذه الإجراءات كافية؟

Calls came out in the past week for Jordanians to rally next Friday in protest of the rise in prices in a “Day of Jordanian Anger”.

The wave of demonstrations and unrest continues in Tunisia and Algeria, with analysts wondering about the “domino effect” and the potential spread of this wave to other Arab countries.

Last night the Jordanian government announced a series of measures to curb price hikes, including cutting some fuel taxes, subsidizing sugar and rice in state-run supermarkets, and employing citizens from underprivileged areas in ministries of education, health, and social development. Government spokesperson Ayman Safadi said these measures have nothing to do with Friday’s planned protests.

Do you think these measures are enough? Have your say here.

  • http://www.thisisjoe.net YJawhar

    We’re gonna have to wait and see.. They shouldn’t only be working on cutting prices, they should also work on raising salaries.. A higher salary gives a person (or at least me) a higher sense of stability than living in a country that has cheaper goods. That goes for taxes, customs & other fees, as well. A person doesn’t just live to provide food, shelter and water to oneself or the family, one should have the ability to live a little & enjoy other activities.

  • صبحية

    ومن وين رح تجيب الدولة مصاري عشان ترفع الرواتب؟ منحة من الوكالة الأمريكية للإنماء وللا الاتحاد الأوروبي؟
    بعدين كيف يعني بدهم يعينوا موظفين من أبناء المناطق الأقل حظا في الوزارات وهاي الدوائر أصلا فيها ترهل إداري وفيها موظفين بداوموا من الساعة 8 للساعة 3 عشان يختموا معاملات ويشربوا شاي وقهوة؟

    الموضوع بدّو حلول جذرية ومختلفة حتى يعالجوا مشاكل الاقتصاد المتراكمة… ما رح تنحل بحزمة إجراءات حكومية. بس ينفّس الوضع شوي ويبطلوا خايفين من غضب شعبي زي تونس والجزائر رح يرجعوا يحكولنا عجز الموازنة يتطلب إجراءات صعبة ويرجعوا يرفعوا الضرايب ويشيلوا الدعم

  • Anonymous

    the problem with these measures is that they are all pretty much half-baked procedures to handle a short term problem: angry, frustrated, financially strained and hungry jordanians who are watching al jazeera and seeing what’s happening in tunisia.

    and even without that last media input, the situation is no different than it has been in the past few years, especially post global economic meltdown.

    in other words, they are not designed to be permanent or long-term solutions…only band-aid economics.

    and what is most worrisome about that is the fact that all band-aid solution, which aim to resolve short-run problems for the wrong reasons, will likely be getting their funding from other places, which will cause just as much damage.

    in other words, where is the government getting the money to sustain yet another flood of employment in a dwindling public sector that has inherently discriminatory hiring practices? social security funds that we all pay in to?

    what about the subsidies? sure sugar becomes either a bit cheaper, or at least does no increase in price…but who pays for that subsidy down the line? another sales tax 8 months from now?

    this is the very personification of a snake eating its tail. the government is trying to appease the population in the short run by attempting to “fix” problems which are very much long run.

  • http://twitter.com/MohannedA Mohanned Al-arabiat

    It is not to cut the prices. The measures were taken to maintain the fragile political/social “equilibrium” and to reaffirm the regime’s role as the “protector” and the true compassionate part of the sad jordanian equation.

    Meh..

  • صبحية

    Indeed. This is becoming such an old story and very insulting to our intelligence, limited as it might be.

    Then you get a column like this one: http://ar.ammannet.net/?p=88629

  • mowa6en

    I’m just loving watching the government tremble and do some fear-action.. now they know how we feel every time we hear about increase in prices or when we get a water or electricity bill. PANIC!

  • http://deerate.com hamede

    friday we need you all downtown Amman in the front of al7osyni masque please come,thank you.

  • Anonymous

    i agree. this once again cements that culture of dependency we have come to rely on, which is costly to the state, the people, and our futures. it would be cheaper for the government to retain loyalty by paying off protest organizers…heads of unions, parties and what not. it would also be cheaper for all of us.

  • http://twitter.com/Bardees_S Bardees S

    I agree with the comments here, this is indeed a short term fix for long term problems we have, such as paying the debts using the taxes and high prices that keep coming.
    what tarawanah said here is valid and worries me, it means more debt is on its way to fix the rage of the people! it’s a loop!

  • Anonymous

    if anything goes wrong in jordan like prices of anything it is the refa3ii fault ,, if anything good happens like prices going down its bina2an 3ala tawjehat il malek !!! ino WTF seriously i am not paying for another daraak or another mowazaaf 7okomii let them go work for their money !!! allah y3eeenaak ya rifa3iii ou sharafii ino everyone screwed him over :p if u know who i mean !

  • kinzi

    I’m not an economist by any means, maybe I missed it, but I am baffled why there is no talk of taxing luxury goods? Are wealthy business owners and consumers so powerful that an immediate 5% luxury tax couldn’t be implemented?

    (And why are there new plants on the median of Madinah Street??? GAM has money for this?)

  • Abeer Abu Touq

    برأيي ان الاجراءات غير كافية، والدليل على ذلك وجود كم كبير من السلع والخدمات الاساسية لا تزال اسعارها مرتفعة جدا، ما فعلته الحكومة مجرد “تطمين” للشعب لامتصاص غضبهم، بعد أن رأت ما فعله اهل الجزائر وتونس احتجاجا على موجات الغلاء التي لا
    ترحم!

    وقد طرحنا ذات الموضوع في جيران عمان، وقد اتفق عدد كبير من زوار الموقع والمشاركين في الحوار أن الحكومة كان بوسعها أن تفعل أكثر من تخفيض سعر كيلو الرز والسكر، وشخصيا اتفق تماما مع اراء المعلقين، بامكان الراغبين بقراءة الموضوع على جيران عمان زيارة الرابط التالي

    http://amman.jeeran.com/node/10765

    عبير هشام ابو طوق
    abeeryarmouk2010@gmail.com

  • Maha

    عنا 6 مليون مواطن طفران و غضبان و عنا اكثر من 6 مليون اشتراك خلوي….الربع الاول 2010 نسبة الاشتراكات الخلوية %103
    شو رأيكم تبطلو حكي فاضي و تطعموا ولادكوا…مثلاً

  • An angry Jordanian

    The measures adopted by the government, as many have expressed here, are insufficient to deal with the core problems facing the Jordanian population.
    It becomes quite obvious to me that only a small rich portion of the society is controlling the economy of the country. Let’s take the case of Petra as an example, the 4 commissioners assigned by the ‘Malek’ earn 3500 JD a month plus 500 JD badal sakan and cars that cost 50.000JDs for each one of them, this would not be a problem if we were in country that distributes richness fairly but what really upsets me is that the surrounding villages of Petra have the highest numbers of unemployment between university students, the salary of many families (minimum 8 members)is between 100-150 JD, how can you, just tell me how can you live with 150JD ? Why instead of this money wasted on luxurious cars was not instead used to develop projects that secure the livelihood of many of the needed families.
    And what about the salaries of our beloved ministers? Even if they stayed in the government for just one day they would earn between 1500-1800 JD when retired. Tab mish 7aram!!!! When the only possibility people see is to enroll the youth in military schools because it is the only option they have to secure their future.
    This certainly has to change, the corruption in the high spheres, the silence of benefited few under the blessing of the king is a disease that has to be cured, so the question that raises now is how much are we willing to fight for? And are we always going to be the lambs that follow blindly the flock?

    An angry Jordanian

  • Mariamadas

    ليش الحكمية في الرد؟

    ما بعرف شو علاقة اشتراكات الخلوي بجوع الشعب الأردني؟. يمكن أنت ما بتشوفي الناس بمعاناتهم اليومية، بس انا بشوف الأمهات اللي ما عندهم تدفئه، بشوف ناس ساكنين بخشش و زقق بدون شبابيك، بشوف الناس اللي بتضطر كل شهر تسحب من راتب الشهر اللي بعده لأنه ولادها بدها دواء مش مغطى بالتأمين، الأباء اللي بتسرق اللقمة من اولاد اولادها عشان تدفع التأمين. الناس اللي عايشين بدون عفش، الأولاد اللي ما بعرفوا كيف شكل التفاح.

    مش كل الشعب الأردني عايش بفقاعة و يمكن الناس اللي مش شايفة كيف الحال ما بحق الها تحكي لحد ما تشوف. اذا يوم حبيتي تتنوري، بتمنى تقولي لي ، بعدين بحب اسمع اذا لسا عندك نفس الرأي

  • Saed

    Well-said.

  • Maha

    ليش الحكمية في الرد؟ كيف قررتي أنو أنا ما بعرف أوضاع الناس و عايشة بفقاعة؟
    i mentioned cell phone subscriptions and companies as a sarcastic comment that you didn’t get. i know there are families who don’t have anything let alone have a cell phone; my comment is about the diminishing middle class who are contributing to their own poverty. A man with a wife and kids smokes 2 packs a day and has a cell phone bill well over 10% of his income. a minimum of 150 JD’s a month he wastes, then he is angry about prices??
    Again i’m talking about the middle class, the youth who text endlessly to TV stations but complain about the extra JD on a cell phone subscription. I’m not saying that the government should dig into people’s pockets because they have vices, they should have REAL solutions to the problems.
    All i’m saying is that a day dedicated to full out anger against the prime minister (the puppet scapegoat) blaming him for all your problems is ridiculous and you should reflect on A- how you can help yourself, B-how you contribute to the problem C- You the people are the source of the government and the rule, you can overthrow the rule and the government but you won’t and it would be useless cause you love being dependent helpless and victimized even if you were offered the solutions you wouldn’t agree to help the government implement them.

    p.s. i went on and on about our problems and solutions but once i exceeded 500 words i decided to cut it. Maybe on another day we can shoot solutions at each other and knock em down until we find some that can actually work.

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  • Mariamadas

    Thank you for your comment, I enjoyed reading this comment much more than the other one… And I generally agree with you. However, I still disagree with the penetration and its relation to poverty.

    I don’t think that we should punish people because they are poor… add to their poverty, more marginalization and add more of that!

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