Skip Navigation
Megan McArdle

Megan McArdle - Megan McArdle is a senior editor for The Atlantic who writes about business and economics. She has worked at three start-ups, a consulting firm, an investment bank, a disaster recovery firm at Ground Zero, and The Economist. More

Megan was born and raised on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, and yes, she does enjoy her lattes, as well as the occasional extra-dry skim-milk cappuccino. Her checkered work history includes three start-ups, four years as a technology project manager for a boutique consulting firm, a summer as an associate at an investment bank, and a year spent as sort of an executive copy girl for one of the disaster-recovery firms at Ground Zero … all before the age of 30.

While working at Ground Zero, Megan started Live From the WTC, a blog focused on economics, business, and cooking. She may or may not have been the first major economics blogger, depending on whether we are allowed to throw outlying variables such as Brad Delong out of the set. From there it was but a few steps down the slippery slope to freelance journalism. She has worked in various capacities for The Economist, where she wrote about economics and oversaw the founding of Free Exchange, the magazine's economics blog. She has also maintained her own blog, Asymmetrical Information, which moved to The Atlantic, along with its owner, in August 2007.

Megan holds a bachelor's degree in English literature from the University of Pennsylvania and an M.B.A. from the University of Chicago. After a lifetime as a New Yorker, she now resides in northwest Washington, D.C., where she is still trying to figure out what one does with an apartment larger than 400 square feet.

No logic, no peace!

By Megan McArdle
Jan 16 2008, 6:31 PM ET Comment

You should read Steven Horwitz on PC libertarians. This, for me, is the money quote, taken from a site that doesn't like us cosmopolitans:

Political correctness is a very strong signal of statism. In the mind of a statist, something is either required or banned. Either homosexual behavior is banned or it is required that everybody respect homosexual behavior.


The irony is breathtaking. I'm still turning it around in my mind, admiring its perfectly smooth and impermeable surface.

The author of that quote is saying, "I have a right to decline to associate with blacks or homosexals." And he is saying this in a piece decrying cosmopolitan libertarians for exercising our right to decline to associate with racists.

Can this be turned around on me? Of course, but I don't think it holds. I think it's good to shun people for certain kinds of behavior. I just don't think that being born with black parents is among the behaviors it is valid to shun. The paleolibertarians are not, by and large, trying to convince me that I, too, should be frightened of black people--given where I live, this would seem to be a fruitless exercise. They're simply denying that I have a social right to disassociate myself from people who do feel that way.

Well, I stand foursquare behind any American citizen's legal right to hate black people. But they shouldn't expect to be invited for brunch.

Presented by

More at The Atlantic

What Matters in President Obama's 2013 Budget What Matters in President Obama's 2013 Budget
We Don't Need a Digital sabbath, We Need More Time You Don't Need a Break From Technology
A Hauntingly Beautiful Zombie Love Story A Beautiful Zombie Love Story
9 fACES of the New Egypt 9 Faces of the New Egypt
Mutts Mobilize in Midtown Against Mitt Mutts Against Mitt

Join the Discussion

After you comment, click Post. If you’re not already logged in you will be asked to log in or register.
blog comments powered by Disqus
Special Report
The Civil War National Portrait Gallery The Civil War
President Obama reflects on what Lincoln means to him and to America, in an introduction to our special issue. Read more ›

Just In

View All Correspondents

The Biggest Story in Photos

Valentine's Day 2012

Feb 14, 2012

Subscribe Now

SAVE 59%! 10 issues JUST $2.45 PER COPY

Facebook

Newsletters

Sign up to receive our free newsletters

(sample)

(sample)

(sample)

(sample)

Megan McArdle
from the Magazine

Why Companies Fail

GM’s stock price has sunk by a third since its IPO. Why is corporate turnaround so difficult…

The Graduates

Busted banking careers, crashed consultants, and shrunken incomes: the author attends her 10-year…

Romney’s Business

The Republican contender touts his business experience—but does it really matter?