Random Insults

Pill Popper: Oh, gosh, that's too bad. The New York Times has a round-table up on prescription drug ads and they didn't invite Megan McArdle, although they did invite the man she called a moron and someone from Reason, her former employer and the present employer of her fiance. McArdle says she takes Ambien; I now have the mental image of Mr. and Mrs. McArdle kicking each other in their sleep, which seems oddly karmic.

Although it seems McArdle has a hard time sleeping. She should visit Wolfram and Hart, where you can buy and sell your need to sleep. Surely there's some factory worker in China who is too busy hunched over his work table or sewing machine to use his? We know American drugs are the bestest in the world, so if McArdle starts sleepwalking, perhaps unknowingly entering people's home to persuade them to sell their kidneys, she must simply put up with the side effects. (NOT affects. Look it up, McArdle.) Lack of sleep is making her ramble and she moves on to Viagra for no good reason other than it is popular. McArdle does not address the actual arguments, of course.

Shell Games: Ms. Shell politely describes actual economic history, which McArdle will undoubtedly reject for the fantasy libertarian world in her head. Shell points out that there is a middle ground between absolute exploitation and no industry and the hypocrisy of worrying about the health of our children from Chinese toys while ignoring the far greater danger experienced by Chinese teens. She seems like a smart woman; she will eventually realize that McArdle and her commenters are too callous and emotionally dead inside to care.

The other post up deserves its own treatment.