In time for the holidays, CONs now defending Scrooge . . .

[mistertrickster]

I kid you not:

http://mises.org/daily/110

Scrooge did not force Cratchit to father children he is having difficulty supporting. If Cratchit had children while suspecting he would be unable to afford them, he, not Scrooge, is responsible for their plight. And if Cratchit didn't know how expensive they would be, why must Scrooge assume the burden of Cratchit's misjudgment?

As for that one lump of coal Scrooge allows him, it bears emphasis that Cratchit has not been chained to his chilly desk. If he stays there, he shows by his behavior that he prefers his present wages-plus-comfort package to any other he has found, or supposes himself likely to find. Actions speak louder than grumbling, and the reader can hardly complain about what Cratchit evidently finds satisfactory.

(snip)

The biggest of the Big Lies about Scrooge is the pointlessness of his pursuit of money. "Wealth is of no use to him. He doesn't do any good with it," opines ruddy nephew Fred.

Wrong on both counts. Scrooge apparently lends money, and to discover the good he does one need only inquire of the borrowers. Here is a homeowner with a new roof, and there a merchant able to finance a shipment of tea, bringing profit to himself and happiness to tea drinkers, all thanks to Scrooge.

Dickens doesn't mention Scrooge's satisfied customers, but there must have been plenty of them for Scrooge to have gotten so rich.

[Brickbat]

1. BWAAAA!

Hilarious. So awesome.

[mistertrickster]

2. The sad thing is . . . they're dead serious. nt

[Brickbat]

3. No, I know that.

Laughing is the only thing I know what to do with something like this.

[Elwood P Dowd]

4. There are some real fruitloops over at the Ludwig von Mises Institute.

Then there was one who told me Dubya was the worst President in American history, but I think the guy that said that was just a grad student from the Auburn University business school. Mises is just a block away from the Auburn campus.

[misanthrope]

6. And most of the von Mises paradigm...

...isn't too far away from the predominant train of thought at Auburn. Take my word for it as I went to school at Auburn University and still am regretfully in contact with many of its alumni.

[ddeclue]

5. Here... hold this chain for me will ya?

:eyes: