We have been hearing the same sentence in different ways for a while now: “There is no money in the market.”
Is that really so?
No, no, no, no. The money didn't disappear. The money has been moved.
Money that used to circulate in the hands of a wider group of people is now under the control of a narrower group. That's why what you feel on the street, in the bazaar, in the coffers of small shopkeepers is the lack of money. But there is still money in the system - only the direction has changed, the address has changed.
But it is not enough to reduce the issue to a discussion of “who won and who lost”. Because the real break is elsewhere: in production.
Turkey has long been stuck in low value-added production. The export value per kilogram is still only a few dollars. In contrast, developed economies can earn tens or even hundreds of dollars from the same weight of product. The difference is not only one of technology, but also of intelligence, planning and vision.
We chose the easier option: import.
Imports are an attractive model in the short term. You get taxed at the door, you write fast revenues into the budget, the shelves look full. But this model has an invisible cost: the weakening of the production reflex. An economy that does not produce becomes dependent on foreign imports over time. And an externally dependent economy becomes fragile.
This fragility is exactly what we are experiencing today.
Another heading is “sales.”
In the last 20-25 years, many state assets have changed hands. Privatizations, public lands, various sources of income... Some of these can be explained with economic rationality. But the question remains: What has been sold and what has been replaced?
If you don't replace the value you sell with a structure that produces higher added value, it's not a transformation; it's just a handover. Just like money changes hands.
Today, the problem is not just money, not just production, not just management choices. The problem is the simultaneous weakening of all of these.
Money changed hands.
Production has weakened.
The economy is stuck in the short term.
And most importantly, large sections of society were left out of this change.
Now the question is:
Is it possible to reverse this picture?
Of course it is possible. But the way to do this is not to save the day with imports, but to build the future with production. This cycle cannot be broken without increasing added value, ensuring legal confidence, strengthening education and creating a long-term economic mindset.
Because money doesn't really disappear.
But if it accumulates in the wrong place, it becomes non-existent for society.