Hina Rabbani Khar has come a long way.  Growing up as a farm girl, she was the first person in her nuclear family to graduate from college.  Her daddy is illiterate, so Hina had to run for office in his stead, when that good bad man, President Gen. Musharraf imposed a college degree requirement for parliamentarians.  She impressed many with her, uh, expertise in economics.  Hina is armed with a degree in hotel management, making her perfectly suited to be a senior finance ministry official back when she was in her mid-twenties and without any job experience.  After all, government in Pakistan is like a cheap motel — the same friendly faces check in and out regularly.  Hina’s story is the story of hope; a farm girl rising from her “agriculturalist” roots and going straight to the top of the ladder, surpassing men and women with PHDs and decades of experience in development and finance.  Back in her home constituency, Hina’s slaves supporters love her so much that she didn’t even have to campaign during the election.  Hina believes in hope; what she wishes and wants come true effortlessly.

And so here is an ironic bit from Dr. Khar’s budget speech (she received an honorary doctorate from the London School of Business Studies, President Asif Ali Zardari’s alma mater).  Dr. Khar criticizes the previous government, in which she rode to the top, for its economic policies (on which she, at the very least, masterfully gave PowerPoint presentations to alert and erect foreign dignitaries from 2003-7).

“While presenting last year’s budget the government had given a detailed account of the economy as was inherited by us from the previous government [in which I served and rose up despite being a twenty-something with a degree in hotel management]. We had highlighted that our economy could not sustain a high level of artificial growth. [So that's why we're aiming for a modest 2% this year!] We had presented that sustainable growth was only possible through investments in the real sectors of the economy that is, agriculture and industry [earnings on which my father won't pay taxes]. These, unfortunately, were neglected in the past [by me and Shaukat Uncle]. Instead growth was fuelled through high consumption and extensive luxury imports [such as the BMWs and Mercedes Benzes in my Lahore Polo Club parking lot] and those too financed through external borrowings.  [No, I never gave a PowerPoint presentation to any of these external donors.] No wonder the fiscal deficit mounted to 7.6% of GDP, the current account deficit became unmanageable, there was a run on foreign exchange reserves and the stock market crashed. [Yes, and now we again have an astronomically high fiscal deficit of $9 billion, which is why my president is going around the world begging for cash.] More importantly, inflation started to rise steeply and peaked at 25% in October 2008. [No, I don't know any affluent Pakistanis who took their cash out of the country or hoarded wheat as the poor man got screwed.] In the face of these developments the economy suffered but the poor of Pakistan suffered the most. [And though I feel for them as my armored S-class passes by their shitty homes, I hereby present another budget that will royally fuck them.]“