More Marathon Shorters

this will be most of Megan's output from Friday to today, with one post reserved for a longer look.

The LA Times copy desk is officially too small:

Megan still hasn't gotten around to reading up on the psychological concept of projection.

Rick Wagoner is stepping down:

On one hand, we should never blame any of the masters of the universe for the results of their actions, but on the other hand auto company executives have union cooties and David Bradley doesn't play golf with any of them so they're useful to bash now and then, like Madoff.

Whither GM?:

***IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT***

Megan McArdle has used the underpants gnomes analogy. It is now dead, may it rest in peace. Jonah Goldberg will be by to violate its corpse presently.

More secret bonuses:

As Susan noted, Megan has voluntarily forfeited any pretense of credibility she ever hoped to hold by uncritically citing Red State. That's actually mildly worse than Dan Riehl, maybe.
Of course, the cited words are bullshit, trying to compare required buyouts of many thousands of car dealers across the country who, notably, are not executives of the car companies in question to the AIG bonuses given to the people in the division which fucked the world economy.
Unions are such a bad thing it's worth it to sacrifice the American auto industry to kill the UAW, to conservatives.

Just say no to F-Bombs:

It seems economists in general, and not just Megan, don't know what the words fascism and socialism mean.
And only Megan gets to use "F-bombs", anyways.

The liberals who think that "Liberal Fascism" is somehow more definitionally stupid than "Conservative Fascism" are, I think, patting themselves on the back a little too hard. They didn't call themselves "National Socialists" for no reason, and pointing this out is, so far as I am concerned, God's work.

House prices: still free fallin':

30% of New Yorkers is a lot of people. And a fair number of them probably need to sell their largest asset so that they can get the heck out of New York, and the finance industry, and start over with a more sustainable life.

Of course her concern is misplaced, but I have to come out in favor of anything that gets current or former members of the financial industry "the heck out of New York". As many as possible. I'll chip in for a U-Haul rental fund.
No offense to those few such folk who read this blog, of course.

Department of non-leading indicators:

Megan should start a personal website like Gwyneth Paltrow, they're both like, totally awesome people with all sorts of, like, totally awesome advice to help people be just like they are, which is, like, totally something people actually want.
Also, because they're so awesome and important, everything that happens to them is meaningful.

Why we won't get an awesome appetite suppressant any time soon:

It's unfortunate Megan doesn't tag her posts according to categories, because it would have been useful for how I'd like to mock this one if she'd put it under "women's issues".

More Media Meltdown:

I know Megan's employment depends on David Bradley's whims and not the market, but how does she not realize that the pool of people waiting to swoop in and displace her is ever-growing? Eventually someone who can actually write is going to steal a moment with Mistah Bradley. There's far, far better liars than Megan out there.

Europe Free Rides, Again:

When Megan agrees with Paul Krugman, he's a brilliant Princeton Professor of Economics and winner of many prestigious awards. When she disagrees, his Nobel wasn't really a Nobel and the fact that it took a few years longer than he originally estimated for the Bush Admin to implode the economy shows he's a dummyhead. This time he's mostly a dummyhead.
Also, what the fucking fuck is this?

We pay for [Europe's] military protection, we pay for the profits that develop the drugs and consumer goods they happily consume, and now we're supposed to pay for their economic bailout too.

I'd snark it but I don't know what the hell that's supposed to mean. Does she think Europe doesn't have... ummmm, medical scientists and researchers and pharmaceutical companies and so on? It sure sounds like it.

Should I have called the market bottom last month?:

Oops, Krugman is smart again. Also, Megan's inability to get anything right, ever, about the financial markets which she is paid to cover means nothing. It's not even worth noting, especially in her own mind.

Fiscal Matters:

More support for Amity Shlaes: a New Yorker of my acquaintance who works with the finance industry reports that the massive fiscal crisis, and regulatory uncertainty, are having a big impact on how he invests for the future:
"Now when I buy Mega Millions tickets, I pick the lump sum option rather than the 26 annual payments"

... huh?
Also, her acquaintance who works in the financial industry plays the lottery regularly?
And only now has recognized that the one time lump sum is better than the installments which are not adjusted for inflation as time passes?
Really?

The Bankrupt Future of the Auto Industry:

It's odd. Megan, obviously, isn't a guy, yet somehow she's getting an erection at the thought of the death of the UAW. Good for her?

Now a pause while I consume calories, then a look at another post which deserves an extended response. And then we'll be all caught up.