The reins in the government's hands

Inflation, although its pace is slowing, continues at full speed, as if driving citizens with low and fixed incomes into poverty. The government, which has desperately attempted to extinguish the fire of inflation, prefers to suppress the problem rather than solve it, either because it is mistaken in its diagnosis or because it is feigning such a mistake for political purposes, thereby turning to shopkeeper-like solutions.

What I mean to say is this: first and foremost, we must clearly accept the following reality:  Inflation is not a monetary issue, but a genuine socio-economic outcome stemming from real distortions in various parts of the economic mechanism. At the forefront of these distortions are two main pillars: the inability to transition to a technology-intensive stage in production relations and the inability to increase productivity in production. Almost all the problems we suffer from as a society in daily life—such as budget deficits, inflation, unemployment, currency depreciation, and rising household debt—are nothing more than reflections rising upon these two main pillars. The transmission mechanisms between the fundamental problem, formed by these two pillars, and the final image reflected as inflation, manifest as the phenomena of the public sector deficit and the current account deficit, known as the twin deficits. Such being the case, neither suppressing the result nor turning to superficial adjustments in the transmission mechanisms provides a healthy outcome. This is because, in a bourgeois economic system, no political power—no matter how strong or even dictatorial its tendencies—can dictate the functioning of the economy. The reason for this is that the economic infrastructure determines the political superstructure, and even the foundations of the state apparatus.

The desperate government, trying to find remedies for inflation—which stems from pathologies deep within the economy—during its political tenure, is choosing to suppress society by hiding behind the 'Şimşek shield.' When considering that there are two segments in society that create and distribute income, the political power, unfortunately, by its very nature, suppresses not the exploiter, but the exploited. 

At this point, let us step away from the economy for a while, enter the realm of political psychology, and take part in this theater of suppression. Let us say a word or two about the level of consciousness and the goals of the segments that are being suppressed, despite the fact that they carry out all production at the cost of their blood and lives, while on the other hand, they are hand-in-hand with the political power in suppressing the producer. Every bourgeois government is aligned with, and in many cases identical to, capital, which is its only pillar of support. Such being the case, no bourgeois government suppresses capital, nor can it, because capital employs labor! It produces for society! It pays taxes to the government! In reality, all of this is only perceived this way under a bourgeois exploitative regime due to a lack of social consciousness, or rather, the real situation is transformed into such an image. For example, when a famous business person was once killed, the public's reaction was not to see that person as a boss who happily consumed what was presented to him on a silver platter by thousands of laborers, but as a philanthropist who provided job opportunities to thousands of people. These are the results of the erosion of the bourgeois public's level of consciousness. Such a weakness in consciousness supports the increasingly despotic practices of bourgeois governments as economic conditions tighten. This type of social unconsciousness is called“covert suppression.” It is therefore natural that the current AKP government, especially given its narrow-margin leadership position—the achievement of which remains a mystery—does not address the real problems of its anti-inflationary policy and instead chooses suppression as its policy option.

The interim statement reveals the anatomy of today's policies. It is very clear that the only tool available to a government focused on policy-making under time and resource constraints is to suppress the retired and working segments that have been and continue to be exploited by capital. In this regard, the issue of the minimum wage, determined on one hand by payroll and/or legal regulations and on the other by representatives of capital, labor, and the government, is being used as a significant rein in the government's hands.

In this situation, the government, having diagnosed inflation as being caused by demand pressure, does not hesitate to use the most effective rein it holds, and indeed, it is not hesitating. Minimum wages, pension payments, and even civil servant salaries create a wage scale in the economy. Given that the diagnosis is that inflation is caused by excessive spending, Şimşek repeats the same refrain in all his statements, it is understood that the government has also sworn not to disrupt the wage scale and has shown that it is determined not to loosen these reins. The wage scale has such a peculiar structure that raising one area within the scale triggers all others in the same direction, leading to an increase in the entire scale. Since the increase of an area or the entire scale is publicly announced, unlike the price hikes made by firms, information about scale increases spreads rapidly throughout society. In terms of inflation, the psychology of expectations or price increases is very influential. The government's fear is to break the expectation that such a price increase might occur, and consequently, to break inflation expectations. 

Wage and income policies are sensitive processes that affect income distribution in the social sphere and leave deep, hard-to-erase marks over time on social moral values such as social behavior patterns and social ethical values. However, there unfortunately appears to be no other way out for a government that refuses to let go of its only maneuvering tool, as it has no intention of abandoning the state protection that comes with the seat of power. The only way out of this path does not lie in the wisdom of the AKP government, but in the hands of our oppressed and exploited retired and working people, and the segments of society uncomfortable with the situation.