Turkey

[Antepli Ejderha]

https://twitter.com/canokar/status/1463142380513767426?t=qyscuvKXDaz4I0zwozstng&s=19

[Antepli Ejderha]

In under two weeks the Turkish Lira has lost about a third of its value.

Inflation is at least 50% and yet interest rates are being cut.

Turkey is almost back to its worst economic days since the 1980 Coup.

[ursus arctos]

I didn't realise that he new Lira was once at par

[Antepli Ejderha]

Not quite but it was steady at around 1.5 for years, then it slowly started to creep up. Most people were saying it was finding its real value as inflation was still a problem, it never consistently got low enough to be a stable country.

[Antepli Ejderha]

https://twitter.com/canokar/status/1463394595912523777?t=x2MBpO9m6XjFuZTxNUlqcQ&s=19

It's time for penguins I think.

[Antepli Ejderha]

Erdoğan stays quiet today, the Lira recovers a little.

[Antepli Ejderha]

https://www.theguardian.com/society/...droidApp_Other

Dying to Divorce is a documentary about domestic violence in Turkey which often leads to Femicide.

[Antepli Ejderha]

https://twitter.com/mutludc/status/1468464846345842689?t=7R5CvXdfbPQlyH0TdL_fgA&s=19

This is interesting.

[ursus arctos]

Very much so

How does one say Après moi, le déluge in Turkish?

[ad hoc]

Another Circassian story of interest - this guy is Germany's new agriculture minister
http://justicefornorthcaucasus.info/?p=1251682700

[Antepli Ejderha]

The Turkish Lira again plunged yesterday reaching record lows of over 14.5 to the dollar.

The Central Bank then spent 2.5 billion dollars to get it back to around 14TL to the dollar.

Erdoğan, and it is him, refuses to raise interest rates as unofficial inflation hits 50%.

[Antepli Ejderha]

Overnight the TL hit records, 15TL to $1 and 20 to £1.

Not only can people not afford to buy bread but bakeries cannot afford to bake it.

Today Erdoğan is expected to again cut interest rates rather than doing the opposite and this process will continue.

[Sporting]

So what's his grand plan, his misguided motivation?

[ad hoc]

What's his game here? Is it just his ego? Or is there some darker thing going on in the background? Is he trying to reach a point where he can buy up half the country on the cheap?

(edit: Sporting beat me to the question)

[Antepli Ejderha]

The original idea, along with the rebrand of Türkiye not Turkey, was to make exports cheaper and get the economy to boom. Adding the huge amount of undocumented labour available this was partly possible.

However his ego and the realities of economics have got in the way meaning that he's now not even able to buy up the country on the cheap.

It seems like it's a very painful endgame for Turkey now. Even his own polls show him neck and neck with the CHP.

[Antepli Ejderha]

[Antepli Ejderha]

In just under a year the Lira has lost over 50% of its value. It's actually worse though as the collapse hasn't been steady over the whole year.

[Antepli Ejderha]

[Antepli Ejderha]

Despite an increase in the minimum wage today this is what it is in dollar terms.

With so much of Turkish products linked to foreign currency this shows how poor people have become.

I've read, but not seen a source, that says 50% of the workers minimum wage.

[Antepli Ejderha]

As for trying to prop up the currency then it's $4 billion dollars blown this week.

Increase interest rates and it would have happened anyway.

I think only Argentina has tried something like this in the 00s. It didn't work there either.

[Antepli Ejderha]

https://twitter.com/ragipsoylu/status/1471729856564056064?t=idV8IrV3z68DxTCX84nj_g&s=19

[ad hoc]

The salary I agreed to starting in January looked reasonably good when I agreed to it. Right now I'll struggle to break even

[Antepli Ejderha]

The salary I agreed to starting in January looked reasonably good when I agreed to it. Right now I'll struggle to break even

I'm guessing you're thinking about not even going now, that's bad news for you.

[Antepli Ejderha]

As each dollar figure is reached people comment on the corresponding historical event.

End of the Celalî revolts, 1610.

[ad hoc]

I'm guessing you're thinking about not even going now, that's bad news for you.

It has crossed my mind. Legally i can easily get out of it, but I feel like I made a commitment and I want to honour that

In other Turkey news the government visa application website where I need to upload everything in order to move to the next step of the work permit process, is down. I have no idea if this is related to the current state of the economy