McArdle began blogging in November 2001 with a blog named " Live From The WTC , " which arose from her employment with a construction firm involved in cleanup at the World Trade Center site following the September 11 attacks . She wrote under the pen name " Jane Galt , " playing on the name " John Galt , " a central character in Ayn Rand 's Objectivist novel '' Atlas Shrugged '' . 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 gained some online attention in May 2003 for coining what she termed " Jane 's Law " in a blog post discussing political behaviors . 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 post by McArdle , 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 . " In 2003 McArdle was hired by '' The Economist '' to write for their website , in the " Countries " and " News " sections , and in October 2006 she founded '' The Economist '' s then-new " Free Exchange " blog
September 11 attacks
September 11 attacks
Megan McArdle