Back on December 19, President Ahmadi-nejad announced the lifting of subsidies. And the public uproar was non-existent. One week later, Bolivian President Evo Morales (photo) lifted subsidies in his country. And the public outpouring of anger was enormous. It wasn’t just that government offices were ransacked and his picture burned in the streets. More important was that many of those protesting came from Morales’ political base. Morales withdrew the price hikes in five days. But he has taken a serious political beating that he may not recover from.
