Maggie's Farm

We are truant in not having added The Atlantic's brilliant Megan McArdle to our blogroll. We will.

A quote from Three Cheers for Retail (h/t Insty) - I remain amazed by how often I think I have found a wonderful link, later to find that Insty has posted it already. Does he really have a day job?

Assessing the health of the economy, we tend to get obsessed with stuff: how much are we making? This is why lost manufacturing jobs so obsess trade foes. But manufacturing isn't where the economic beef is, and hasn't been for some time. Distribution is the dominant force of change in our lives now, whether the distribution vehicle is Wal-Mart, and iPod, or the internet.

Retailers: God rest ye merry, gentlemen. Hopefully not atop your piles of unsold merchandise.