Economic Perception and Reality
Blessed with a bountiful supply of economy-sustaining resources, the country’s economy has been successively mauled by a cabal influenced by Harvard Business School model theorists, populist leaders charmed by the romantic socialist economic notions of the 50s and 60s and commercially ignorant bureaucrats bent upon imposing their Kafka-esque will on the economic destiny of the nation. We happen to have one of the most resilient economies in the world. It had to be in order to survive some very destructive economic Rasputins over the years. Notwithstanding the fact that we Pakistanis love to run ourselves down, the economy is certainly in better shape than 3 years ago.
Economic Scenario
Leaders anywhere in the world can never resist the temptations of resorting to populist slogans, particularly when faced with assessment from the electorate. Normal perceptions of mass psychology dictate that voter preference is usually accorded to those who promise the most, all other factors, charisma included, being favourable. Emphasis is laid on a rescue act from the “gloom and doom” scenario, with the aspirant office-seekers presenting themselves as glorified versions of Sir Launcelot and Lord Fauntleroy rolled into one, the bottom line being the ability to deliver on all promises made, which are liberally strewn about, pledging everything but the sun and the moon, bread in plentiful abundance, universal housing, free education and medical care, water, gas, electricity, public transportations, etc in whichever order you may prefer it. Very seldom do political parties (or for that matter, military regimes) come up with comprehensive plans to tackle the issues, a total plan to ameliorate the miseries of the common man. Pakistan today is no exception to the given rule, rhetoric being in abundance, the matter of substance in short supply, a scarcity microscoping into oblivion by the lack of credible economic planners who are electable in any of the major political groups. We have seen the tinkering of the economy by those who are least electable in the present regime, a situation of genius gone amok. As much as there is a surfeit of agriculturists in the form of major landowners among professional politicians, the absence of economists and businessmen in the electoral field is always acutely felt and the present election process is no exception.