Megan McArdle
Megan McArdle (born January 29, 1973) is a Washington, D.C.-based blogger and journalist. She writes mostly about economics, finance and government policy from a libertarian or classical liberal perspective. She currently serves as the business and economics editor, as well as a blogger, for The Atlantic. She has had book reviews and opinion pieces published in the New York Post, The New York Sun, Reason, The Guardian[1] and Salon.com.[2]
Early life
McArdle was born and raised in New York City. She has an undergraduate degree in English Literature from the University of Pennsylvania, and an MBA from Chicago Booth.[3]
Journalistic career
McArdle began blogging in November 2001; her blog was originally called "Live From The WTC", because she was working at the time for a construction firm doing cleanup at the World Trade Center site following the September 11 attacks. She wrote under the pen name "Jane Galt". The name was a play on "John Galt", the name of a central character in Ayn Rand's Objectivist novel Atlas Shrugged; though her political perspective could best be described not as Objectivist but as moderate libertarian or classical liberal. In November 2002 she renamed the site "Asymmetrical Information", a reference to the economics term of the same name. That blog had two other occasional contributors, Zimran Ahmed (writing under the pen name "Winterspeak") and the pseudonymous "Mindles H. Dreck".
McArdle achieved some online fame in May 2003 for coining what she termed "Jane's Law", in a blog post.[4] The law, written with regard to the two main U.S. political parties, Republicans and Democrats, reads: "The devotees of the party in power are smug and arrogant. The devotees of the party out of power are insane." Another well-known post of hers, from April, 2005, discusses why she takes no position on the issue of same-sex marriage; she wrote, "All I'm asking for is for people to think more deeply than a quick consultation of their imaginations to make that decision... This humility is what I want from liberals when approaching market changes; now I'm asking it from my side [libertarians], in approaching social ones." [5]
In 2003 McArdle was hired by The Economist to write for their print magazine, with the title of Economics Correspondent. In October 2006 she became the main contributor to the Economist's then-new "Free Exchange" blog.
In August 2007 McArdle left The Economist and moved to Washington, D.C. to work as a full-time blogger for The Atlantic, with "Asymmetrical Information" kept as the title of her blog.[6]
In November 2008, various of McArdle's blog posts arguing against the proposed federal bailout of the U.S. auto industry were quoted approvingly by conservative commentators David Brooks,[7] Michael Barone[8] and John Podhoretz,[9] among others.
By 2010, McArdle had also become The Atlantic's business and economics editor. In February 2010, her blog lost the title "Asymmetrical Information", as The Atlantic switched to having every blog (except Andrew Sullivan's The Daily Dish) be identified solely by its author.[10]
McArdle is an occasional television and radio commentator, having appeared on The Kudlow Report,[11] Fareed Zakaria GPS[12][13], and NPR's Marketplace.[14]
McArdle has been critical of libertarian politician Ron Paul, criticizing him for not strongly disavowing racist statements in his newsletters,[15] arguing against his championing of tax credits, and accusing him of lacking specificity about cutting government spending.[16] McArdle was also quoted as saying that Ron Paul "doesn't understand anything about monetary policy," and that "he wastes all of his time on the House Financial Services Committee ranting crazily."[17]
Personal life
McArdle married journalist Peter Suderman in 2010.[18] She was a vegan for a year in 2008, which she ended due to a soy allergy caused by Hashimoto's thyroiditis.[19]
References
- "What's Your Story?", Cheryl Miller, AFF's Doublethink, April 15, 2007
Notes
- ^ McArdle Profile on Guardian.co.uk
- ^ Atlantic Wire Launches With (Media) Star-Studded Fete, FishBowlNY, September 23, 2009
- ^ The normblog profile 195: Megan McArdle, NormBlog, June 15, 2007
- ^ Untitled, Megan McArdle, Asymmetrical Information, May 21, 2003
- ^ "A really, really, really long post about gay marriage that does not, in the end, support one side or the other", Megan McArdle, Asymmetrical Information, April 2, 2005
- ^ McArdle Leaves The Economist For The Atlantic FishBowlDC
- ^ Bailout to Nowhere, David Brooks, The New York Times, November 18, 2008
- ^ Detroit Automakers a Relic of the Past, Michael Barone, Human Events, November 15, 2008
- ^ Bailouts Necessary and Unnecessary, John Podhoretz, Contentions, November 11, 2008
- ^ "Housekeeping Note", February 25, 2010
- ^ End of the Recession?, The Kudlow Report, October 29, 2009
- ^ Sunday Show Preview FishbowlDC
- ^ Fareed Zakaria GPS Transcript, CNN, March 22, 2009
- ^ Weekly Wrap: Another bubble?, Marketplace, Friday, November 13, 2009.
- ^ Ron Paul roundup, Megan McArdle, January 8, 2010
- ^ Ron Paul on taxes, Megan McArdle, December 28, 2007
- ^ Weigel, David (2010-12-10) Congratulations! Now Shut Up.: Why Ron Paul's newfound power both pleases and worries libertarians., Slate
- ^ http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/13/fashion/weddings/13mcardle.html
- ^ McArdle, Megan (31 July 2008). "The end of an era". The Atlantic.
External links
