* * * * *
                                        
                                  Bah, humbug
                                        
> Scrooge has been called ungenerous. I say that's a bum rap. What could be
> more generous than keeping your lamps unlit and your plate unfilled,
> leaving more fuel for others to burn and more food for others to eat? Who
> is a more benevolent neighbor than the man who employs no servants, freeing
> them to wait on someone else?
> 
> Oh, it might be slightly more complicated than that. Maybe when Scrooge
> demands less coal for his fire, less coal ends up being mined. But that's
> fine, too. Instead of digging coal for Scrooge, some would-be miner is now
> free to perform some other service for himself or someone else.
> 

Via Instapundit [1], “What I Like About Scrooge: In praise of misers. [2]”

I've always felt that Ebeneezer Scrooge got a bum rap (than again, that could
be my inner “Bah, humbug!” speaking). Several years ago, after watching about
the five billionth rehashing of _A Chrismas Carol_ [3], I got the idea of
writing a short story about Scrooge that takes place seven years after the
events in the book. In the story idea, Scrooge is once again visited by the
ghost of his ex-partner Marley, wherein he learns that not only has he lost
all his wealth to philanthropy, but that the very people he was helping were
taking advantage of him.

[1] http://instapundit.com/archives2/2006/12/post_886.php
[2] http://www.slate.com/id/2110817/
[3] http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0553212443?ie=UTF8&tag=conmanlabor

Email Sean Conner at sean@conman.org

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