What would we ever do without the Fund?

As the government prepares to unleash its federal budget upon the hapless Pakistani taxpayers, the fine men and women of the International Monetary Fund cannot be far from our thoughts. For the rest of the month, all we will hear is: "they made us do it".

That's cute. But that's false.

Truth is, if they did in fact made "us" do it, then thank God for them. Imagine what our governments would do if there was no IMF to restrain them.

Here's a sneak peek: lavish subsidies, reckless expenditures, political freebies, wasteful projects, financial pandering of the elite, salary hikes for favourites, imprudent spending to purchase voter loyalty, and bloating the size of the already massive government.

Or in other words, running the country's finances into the ground.

The sad fact is that we cannot trust our government with our money. Not this one, not the previous one, and not the next one. No one can keep politicians and bureaucrats in check when it comes to reckless spending of taxpayers' money – not the army, not the judiciary, not the media, and certainly not the civil society and its various vocal organisations. If anyone can, it's the IMF. So yes, thank God for them.

Here's what is worse. Instead of learning to live within our means (unless forced by the IMF), our politicians and bureaucrats spin the argument to say they cannot give "relief"........

© The Express Tribune