The $75 billion injected into our economy during the last 8 years went either into private coffers of those who controlled our government or were wasted on consumer goods such as mobile phones, cars, ACs and other luxury items. Not a single percentage point increase was recorded in the industrial base with the result that now we suffer from all kinds of shortages stifling the life of the common man. It has become quite obvious by now that the United States has all along been exploiting the resources of our country. We did not develop enough means of our own to ever become independent of foreign assistance so that we could be rid of foreign interference. The country is handed back to the civilians only when collapse is imminent and money stream dried up. Thus the present government, though devoid of any real power, is ridden with responsibilities and has made it the cornerstone of its policy to enhance all kinds of taxes in the coming budget. The only result of this will be a total crippling of our already impoverished population. -MUHAMMAD IRFAN, Muzaffargarh, via e-mail, May 21.