Retirement and the Capitalist System

According to the statement by Türk-İş, the hunger threshold covering food expenditures for a family of four is 31,224 TL, and the poverty threshold is 101,706 TL. Now, let us look at pension payments. As of 2026, the lowest pension is 20,000 TL, the average pension is 23,500 TL, and 90% of retirees receive a pension below 25,000 TL. The ratio of those receiving a pension above 25,000 TL to all retirees is only about 10%. This negative picture is not static; it is also eroding due to the continuously declining purchasing power of money in the face of uncontrollable inflation. In short, this is the situation. 

Retirees have worked in the public and/or private sectors during the days/years their health permitted, contributed to social production, and believed that their future was guaranteed through the insurance premiums deducted. However, while people who have worked and struggled for years think they will finally be comfortable when they retire, they unfortunately find themselves facing the current situation. Today, I wanted to examine this issue with you, dear readers.

First, let us take a look at the basic structure of this insurance system, in other words, the famous active insured and passive insured issue, because in a pure capitalist system, the root of the matter is the active/passive insured ratio, or the age pyramid. In the capitalist system, theoretically, the main source of income for the insurance institution consists of deductions made from passive insured individuals. The insurance deduction that the passive insured thinks is made for their own future is actually the source that feeds not themselves, but the passive insured, that is, the laborer. It is clear that since it is not possible for active insured persons and passive insured persons to be in the same or similar service group and service year, the relationship between the active insured and the passive insured cannot be expected to be exactly the same. Therefore, the relationship between such groups, which do not have a one-to-one correspondence, is handled in the scheme defined as the insured pyramid or age pyramid. In this context, the meaning and importance of the age pyramid is that the relatively young laborers who are actually working support the relatively elderly who have retired. It is clear that in a healthy operation, it is preferable for the base of the age pyramid to be wide and to narrow towards the top. In Turkey, the active/passive ratio, which expresses the number of people receiving pensions per insured person, is around 1.61%. As the general life expectancy increases, the active/passive ratio declines. In addition to the extension of the age limit, early retirement also disrupts this ratio to the detriment of the passive insured. This situation, namely the extension of the general age limit, creates a serious problem in terms of social rights not only in Turkey but in all other countries as well. This is the first problem.

In this context, the most sensitive and subtle game of the capitalist system needs to be revealed. If I start with what should be said last; if one pays attention, the capitalist system tries to keep all laborers, both active and passive, outside of the national product. Specifically, under the assumption that the pension system revolves only between active and passive retirees, the source of insurance funds is not the national income, but the social wage fund. In this case, it is necessary to examine the difference between the wage fund and the national income. Wages, along with profit, interest, and rent, constitute one-fourth of the national income. The matter does not end there; the wage obtained by the passive laborer is not as much as what they add to the national income, but the portion that accrues to the laborer after the profit and interest shares are deducted as exploitation from what they add to the national income. Thus, the insurance deduction consists of the deduction made from the laborer's wage remaining after exploitation. In short, the wage earner under the exploitation of profit and interest is also subjected to an insurance deduction from their already trimmed wage. To summarize, the passive insured, that is, the retiree, is forced to carry not only the capitalist and the usurer but also the active insured on their back. This is how the capitalist system views the pension system; exploitation upon exploitation! 

It is true that insurance funds are operated and yield returns on behalf of laborers, but this is done not under market conditions, but under conditions specific to the public sector at quite low interest rates. Specifically, public budget deficits can be covered with resources obtained from insurance funds, called social funds, in exchange for meager interest returns. In short, yes, insurance funds are ostensibly operated, but by operating them in a way that yields a return below the current market interest rate, retirees are once again subjected to exploitation. 

The other source of insurance funds is transfer payments made from the budget. The state's view of insured retirees, and indeed all laborers, is not in favor of retirees, except during deceptive election periods, but in favor of capital, and as long as this system continues, it will continue to manifest itself in this way.

Within the general framework I have tried to summarize, it will be futile for both retirees and laborers to be content with merely complaining to the state. Because, alongside the meaningless tax advantages granted to crony companies, it does not seem to provide much of a result in the face of the principal and interest obligations of build-operate-transfer and public-private partnership projects. Therefore, in the short term, complaining should continue, but between complaints, reproachful outbursts against capital and especially against the system must definitely take place so that capital and its political agent, the state, can take the necessary measures.