Ishrat Hussain, a former Pakistani civil servant and currently a World Bank official, has been writing on Pakistan's economy for the national print media. Much like the professional economist that he is, his views reflect an objective approach to a vast range of economic issues. It was now time for him to correlate his analysis of individual problems and sectors to a macroeconomic framework and make some sense out of Pakistan's baffling styles of economic management. How could a compact economy with a rich resource endowment be reduced to the position of a basket case? Hussain's hypothesis: a small group of elites managed to "hijack the state" and "rig the market" for its own exclusive benefit. The "Elitist State" now controls both the private and public sector. No matter which way the economy turns ___ market mechanism or state control ___, the goodies will inevitably land, and are actually landing, in the hands of the controlling elites