#273 | Sharoz Khalid; Inflation and Politics in Pakistan

About this episode

Sharoz Khalid, a Pakistan-based editor/freelancer who works with Vance's business partner Ben Anderson, joins Vance (with a rough internet connection) to describe what runaway inflation feels like on the ground in Pakistan. Khalid frames the crisis as originating with US dollar printing (he claims over 40% of circulating dollars printed in roughly two years), which he says pushes developing-world currencies toward poverty; daily-wage workers in Pakistan earn under $5/day and face 30%+ inflation versus 2-3% under prior stable periods. He draws a sharp distinction between an "ordinary thief" and a "political thief" — the latter chosen and empowered by the people themselves, then betraying that trust by stealing "your education, your career, your happiness." Much of the conversation covers geopolitics: a widely believed narrative that the US orchestrated a regime change against Imran Khan's government, China's $62B CPEC investment and its recent pullback amid political instability and attacks on Chinese engineers, and Pakistan/China/Russia's interest in de-dollarizing trade. Khalid places blame partly on politicians and partly on citizens themselves for failing to build export industries, and closes with a stark short-term prediction that conditions will get worse before any stabilization, contingent on IMF loan resumption and repatriation of laundered money.

“The only two solutions will be left whether you suicide or whether you protest for your right... the mob, they are occurring and they are the inflation creating mob because they fight for their rights like a common Pakistani need the basic commodities, not a luxury life. They need a two time meal.”

“It only obeys the rules and regulation that America will give us... this is it.”

“This USA print more than 40% up the dollar... it means that USA down these like developing country to 40% like to down to the poverty. So I think that this is the main cause of inflation.”

Key moments

• ~0-8%: Framing — Khalid links US dollar printing directly to Pakistani inflation and describes sub-$5/day daily wages.
• ~14%: The "ordinary thief vs. political thief" distinction — political thieves are chosen by voters, then betray that trust.
• ~28-38%: The US-orchestrated-regime-change narrative against Imran Khan, and China/Russia's alignment with that narrative.
• ~40-50%: Institutional corruption critique — "the current government is slave... it only obeys the rules and regulation that America will give us."
• ~76-88%: China's $62B CPEC investment, its pullback after political instability and terrorist attacks on Chinese engineers in Karachi, and Pakistan/China/Russia interest in de-dollarized trade.
• ~91-98%: Money laundering and asset flight by past leaders, IMF loan dependency, and Khalid's closing prediction that Pakistan will be "worse than this" in one month absent political stability.