A growth model where profit is privatized and costs are nationalized: It is not the economy that is growing, but our bills

Electrical Engineer and New Party Samsun Provincial Chair Mehmet Özdağ, in an article he penned for 12punto, pointed out that the growth claimed by the government is not in the economy, but in the bills.

Özdağ wrote the following regarding the growth data announced by TurkStat:

The Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) shared the second-quarter growth data for 2026 last week. Although there was an expectation of 2.5 percent circulating in the public, the rate announced in the official bulletin was 2.3 percent. However, the issue that should be focused on is not the figure itself, but the mechanism operating in the background; that is, the dynamics through which this growth is achieved, who gets what share of this pie, and more importantly, which segments of society are burdened with new loads by this process.

When expenditure-side components are examined, it is seen that household final consumption increased by 3.5 percent in real terms in the second quarter of 2026; meaning the increase in consumption has exceeded the general growth rate. At first glance, this picture might create the impression that growth is spread to the base and that the public is directly benefiting from prosperity. However, the other side of the coin points to very different dynamics. It is calculated that the real loss of minimum wage earners against inflation in the first half of the year is 5 thousand 576 liras.

The "Growth" Fire is Fueled by Debt

This artificial growth in the consumption basket does not stem from an increase in income, but from a spiral of debt and the erosion of remaining savings. The record levels reached by household debt also reveal how the economy is being "grown." Because we are not facing an economy that has gained momentum through value-added production, industrial investments, or productivity increases. On the contrary; there is a fragile model where the wheels are turned by consumer loans that mortgage the future, ballooning credit card statements, and overdraft accounts. For the masses, borrowing has long ceased to be a means of increasing prosperity or acquiring assets such as housing/vehicles; it has turned into a mandatory survival reflex to cover kitchen expenses, rent, and basic bills. In short, the AKP is producing growth on paper by making people spend tomorrow's income today and fueling consumption. The bill for this growth, however, falls on the shoulders of households as new financial burdens.

This contradiction at the macro level becomes much more concrete when looking at local data. The indicators of the TR83 Region, where our province Samsun is also located, are the most striking example of this: While the official unemployment rate in the region climbed from 8.1 percent to 8.6 percent, the employment rate fell to 48.8 percent. The gender-based gap is even more shocking; female unemployment reached 11.8 percent, nearly double that of men. While some newspapers decorate their headlines with the good news of "growth," it is becoming harder for citizens on the ground to find work every day.

The Impending Hike or Energy "Growth"

When we look at the issue with an engineering analysis beyond the numbers, the truth is clearer. Growth is an abstract concept; what is important is how it is achieved and what it paves the way for. Before the ink on the growth headlines had even dried, tariff increases in the 40-50 percent band for electricity for October began to be discussed. It is stated that the Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources will reduce electricity and natural gas subsidies from 1 trillion liras to 200 billion liras. This discourse shows that perception management has begun for a high-rate hike and that the final rate will be determined according to public reaction. When we also consider that the EMRA (EPDK) will begin to load the cost of the 19 billion dollar investment that distribution companies committed to for the 2026-2030 period onto consumer bills for 10 years, high-rate hikes seem inevitable. Moreover, this hike will also increase the growth figures of the next period; while the bill is once again dumped on our poor people, it will also create material for a new "we are growing" perception campaign.

On one hand, public support is being liquidated step by step accompanied by the "the economy is growing" discourse carried in the headlines; on the other hand, the profit margins and investment returns of privatized distribution companies are guaranteed with a legislative shield. While a "state-guaranteed return" model that eliminates market risk for companies is being operated, the entire bill, from currency risk to financing costs, and from grid investment to operating expenses, is loaded directly onto the citizen's back. This model, where companies do not take investment risks and cost increases are immediately reflected in tariffs, is not a classic public service, but a perfectly constructed capital transfer. That abstract growth narrative, fueled by debt and not spread to the base, turns into a highly useful legitimacy shield that masks this resource transfer from the pockets of the public to company coffers and makes austerity policies invisible. In a country where the poorest 20 percent of the population can only get a 6.4 percent share of the income, it is unacceptable for a public service that is a fundamental human right, such as energy, to be turned into a profit-guaranteed rent area. Growth figures are reduced to a propaganda tool precisely to legitimize this injustice and to create the illusion that "the public is consuming, so they can pay."

The figure is 2.3 percent in the official bulletin; there is no doubt about that. However, an economy growing on paper and who gets that growth in their pocket and who records it as a minus in their account are completely different issues. If the purchasing power of the minimum wage earner is eroding against inflation every month while the next ten years of profit and investments of distribution companies are guaranteed directly through consumer bills, what is growing is not the welfare of the public, but only the balance sheets of certain capital groups.

When the Fog Clears, the Bill Will Appear

If the real income of millions of laborers is eroding while the profit of distribution monopolies is guaranteed, there is no social development here; there is a balance sheet growth where profit is privatized and costs are nationalized. As the harsh winter approaches, the tariffs that will be reflected on the meters will show us all once again who is growing and who is paying the price. If the engine of an economy has become debt and its fuel has become the exhausted savings of the public, "growth" should be the last concept to be used. The 2.3 percent rate is not the growth of the woman who cannot find a job, the laborer whose minimum wage is fed to the inflation monster, and the farmer who cannot irrigate their field; it is the growth of capital circles that index their profit to bills with zero risk. The growth fairy tale is nothing more than a useful smoke bomb that covers the mechanism of resource transfer to capital. However, when the fog clears, the heavy bills of October and the frost of winter will reveal the truth in all its nakedness. It is not the economy that is growing, but unpaid debts and the guaranteed balance sheets of a handful of companies.

News Source: 12punto