PARTLY FACETIOUS: Why did FBR Chairman cancel usual press conference after budget speech?

“A universal rule prevails: lessons need not be learned if they go counter to a declared strategy.”

“I would have you know I do learn lessons - if my strategy is not working, I adjust….”

“I was not referring to a common person like you, but politicians.”

“OK but do the selected qualify as politicians?”

“Of course, once you jump into the cesspit, the cesspit owns you.”

“You haven’t heard of any successful rescue missions that have extracted individuals from the cesspit?”

“Not in the cesspit of politics. Anyway, if you were referring to the Budget presented on Tuesday being the same o same o, then let me assure you that the numbers game was won even more conclusively this time, almost as conclusively as the West was won.”

“Pretty dated comment, isn’t it.”

“I don’t understand…”

“Today the West does not bring to mind cowboys but refers to a US- led alliance which we are wooing or trying to woo and…”

“China will have to change its immigration and investment laws and….”

“Shut up, the Finance Minister said that the FBR collected 390 billion rupees from enforcement measures and next fiscal year would bring in much more and…”

“So then, why did the FBR Chairman cancel the usual press conference after the budget speech?”

“He must have developed a medical condition, but nonetheless I would urge the Finance Minister to verify it as he then over-exposed himself by giving interviews on several channels. A word of advice: give interviews after the post budget press conference.”

“That’s the politician’s way - any opportunity for exposure even if it goes into the realm of over exposure must be seized with both…both…”

“Hands?”

“I would go a step further, seize the opportunity with all limbs. Anyway, when I said lessons are not learned by politicians I wasn’t referring to the locals but to Western politicians. Ursula von der Leyen announced the eighteenth sanction package against Russia. Shouldn’t someone ask her what she reckons the eighteenth would achieve if the first seventeen did not work? Russia’s growth was over 4 percent in 2024 while that of all Europeans countries floundered…”

“The number 18 brings to mind the intent to levy a tax on the traders.”

“Or the attempt to actually cut government expenditure instead of relying on a lower discount rate to reduce outlay.”

“As I said, politicians never abandon a strategy no matter how many times it fails.”

Copyright Business Recorder, 2025