Atlas Shrugged: The Mocking

Friday, November 14, 2008

Charity For My Friends, No Charity For You

Many posts later, McArdle still hasn't explained why it's okay for the US to lose its Midwest manufacturing base but it's not okay for bankers and stock owners to lose their money. She did, however, share with us a personal story. We learn that McArdle expected to make a lot more money than she has, and that she was once poorly dressed. Women who actually have to struggle through life know that you can scour discount stores for items on sale or search charity and consignment shops when you need to wear good quality clothes. They also know that wearing worn clothing is not a sign of shame and don't base their self-image on how much money they spend.

I understand that this is not what the auto workers want; they want their jobs. But while I am happy to help the auto workers, I am not happy to help them manufacture undesireable cars at massive social cost. I too, would have liked to keep my job as a management consultant. But I didn't have a right to have the job I wanted merely because I liked it. And it wouldn't have been good for America if I had.


Funny, I feel the same way about bankers and CDOs.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Susan, that post of hers just knocked my socks off. Megan's six-figure job fell through, she had to move in with her parents in the Upper West Side of Manhattan, and couldn't afford trendy clothes, which embarrassed her when her dates took her to Broadway shows. She thinks this is hardship.

*Stunned* What a clueless twit.

Susan of Texas said...

Can you believe someone hired her to give business advice? What would she do, tell them to copy Enron?

Anonymous said...

The worst are the people that show up in the comments giving her a "there, there Megan" pat on the back for having the strength to live on after her nightmare of not being able to shop at Gucci for two whole years. And she still hasn't learned that bragging about how much money you make, even if it is in the context of an offer that fell through, is extremely tacky. What an awful human being.

Susan of Texas said...

She really is. Poor thing, she had to sacrifice a job she never had as a business consultant. And she would have been so good at it too. Ah, well, maybe it's for the best. Lower-level women tend to be the scapegoats when someone goes to jail for unethical practices.