Angels and Minister of Grace Defend Us!

Megan McArdle's thinking process:

The theory makes intuitive sense, of course, and dovetails with my empirical
experience.

In other words, her intellectual process consists of a gut check and looking at Flicker. She might be joking, but that really is her process.

America, I know only a couple of you are reading this, but aren't you both embarrassed? This woman is extremely successful, by would-be writer standards. She's David Brooks' favorite economics blogger. She's published in major venues. And she's an idiot, with no intellectual curiosity or depth and breadth of knowledge. She's Little Jackie Horner, who puts her thumb in the pie of economics, pulls out a moronic plum, and says, "What a good girl am I." (I know, dumb, but the pills have worn off and the brain is not fully operational here. Not that my brain was working on the pills, but I was too high to care.)

Sigh. It is to depress.

Megan has been babbling about how bankers won't deliberately make decisions that would harm their banks and therefore their jobs. There's so much evidence that contradicts this view that it's embarrassing to see Megan's words in print. Bankers collected lucrative fees and/or earned bonuses that would set them up financially for life. Here Megan is, jokingly telling us that taller people are smarter, portraying herself as someone who can explain and advise and should be well-paid for it, while ignoring information that is necessary to do her job.

Megan, I give you advise not because I'm nice or even because I'm mean, but because it's getting past irritating and approaching humiliating, and I really do hate to see that happen to people. I can't even watch tv shows that show women taking pratfalls and being publicly humiliated. I have to avert my eyes during old Meg Ryan movies. I'm begging you, McArdle, to work harder, study more, think more, and try harder. You rent a house sight unseen, no doubt because it doesn't occur to you that people fuck each other over all the time and even the Special can be harmed, out of someone's venality or greed or wishful thinking or callousness. Now, maybe my guess is wrong and Megan rejected the house for trivial matters, such as a tacky paint job or a dishwasher that doesn't work. But it all comes down to the same thing--we all have faults and failures. We all disappoint ourselves and have room to grow. We can accept that and try harder, or we can la-la-la on our merry way and never see the coming storm.