Atlas Shrugged: The Mocking

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Blue Skies


It's not the view out my window but it could be.

Remember when Megan McArdle went to Florida? I do.

Since Megan McArdle is stuck in Tallahassee wrasslin' gators and listening with rapt attention while Jeb Bush's cronies tell her that there's never been a better time to Buy Florida, let's take a look at Paul Krugman's op-ed in the New York Times.


Her article is now out, and sure enough, it seems that risk is good and Florida might just recover (some day) and make you rich, rich, rich!

McArdle neglects to mention the BP oil spill, but that is understandable because her hosts probably did not tell her about it. Her odd style--which seems more like the musings in a personal memoir--is very much in evidence. I did some reading and it seems that the company McArdle profiles has already sold off most of its beachfront property to cover operating costs, but eh, who cares about the details when investing? Don't you want to be a millionaire? Somehow?

The day is too beautiful to waste on McArdle. We will let her enjoy her restless, twitchy drive to become rich and powerful while we enjoy other, more satisfying riches instead.

4 comments:

Ken Houghton said...

"I did some reading and it seems that the company McArdle profiles has already sold off most of its beachfront property to cover operating costs, but eh, who cares about the details when investing?"

If that was property on the Gulf Coast, I would surmise that not mentioning BP is deliberate.

fish said...

Many people argue that stock markets have become much more efficient, thanks to more capital, a legion of professional analysts, and computing power that can screen thousands of stocks in a few seconds for anomalies such as a firm trading at less than its book value.

Others might say that it is a busted market that only benefits the well connected at the expense of everyone else causing all but Goldman and JP Morgan to flee the market completely:

Susan of Texas said...

I wonder if McArdle forgot about the oil spill or just decided it was irrelevant. Probably the latter.

It seems the area did get some oil; the company was going to sue BP but evidently decided that it would be too expensive.

Tom M said...

Value investing....in real estate...in Florida after a collapse. Hmmm, sounds like Texas in the early 90s when the people who thought they bought at the bottom found out there was another bottom 20% below where they bought...with leverage.
That's called value losing. Bought, it is Mcmegan's forte. Everybody should have one and hers is .....