Consumption is Not the Main Cause of Inflation.
There is not much to say about the recently released inflation rates. Along with to the annual CPI of around 62%, restaurant and hotel rates, healthcare and education prices have increased by at least 80%. With the gas companies re-starting to bill citizens for energy spending again, overall household spending rose by more than 11% in November.
Though not a “decline” in core inflation, but there was a slight slowdown in the rate of inflation increase in November. However, it still remains 7 points above the annual CPI. Price increases will not be brought under control unless core inflation falls below the CPI rates. Meanwhile, I see that the media gives almost unconditional support to Minister Şimşek and the Central Bank, hence trying to manipulate public perception and transform it into a more optimistic view.
Clearly, the purpose of this propaganda is not an effort to restore public trust and confidence in the government. Because, what has been done so far has obviously not been to the advantage of ordinary citizens, but has worked rather to reduce the costs of businesses who use external borrowing to finance their operations or enable large depositors to earn even more money by means of high interest rates. So apparently, this intense support by the media is aimed at preventing citizens from criticizing the government, while the latter works to help interest groups make constant profit.
There’s nothing wrong with combatting inflation. However, those who own the big capital do support a continuous increase in interest rates, rather than a direct fight against the root causes of inflation. Those who disregard the inflationary effects of the country’s current taxation and trade regime, government budget deficit, and the current monetary policy have a single motive in mind: “I better not speak about the unfairness that is done to others, so that they leave me and my interests alone.”
I wonder what would ordinary people in the country do if only they knew that the people who can easily afford all the costs of living, from clothing to food, from eating out to tuition fees, are the very ones who make the government to put such unfair practices in place, the very practices that enable them to lead a good and comfortable life while causing the rest to hardly make ends meet? Based on all my talks with pressure groups so far, I could confidently say that they all believe that they are right and that ordinary citizens should pay the price for government-granted privileges designed to protect their profit.
Obviously, it is the government itself that must eradicate such selfish and inconsiderate way of thinking. So, once again, it comes down to the way how the government chooses to use its authority. Promote socioeconomic equality or help the rich get richer…
