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Megan McArdle's Alternate History Writing Workshop. It's the professional left with Drift Glass and Blue Gal.

Ms. McArdle, I have a question.

Well, she doesn't call it alternate history.

No.

Because that's not a good statistics analytical word.

Doesn't she call it something like counterfactual?

Yes.

My counterfactual on this is this, which is a, you know, which is just, it's a word.

Is that like saying lie or is that like saying?

No, it's a word that Kevin Drum and Ezra Klein and Duncan Black and anybody who has spent a lot of time waddling around in the sort of the academia, the academia economics area and who's an analyst, numeric analyst, likes to sling around. But what they mean is

alternate history. Alternate history. It means what if this weren't true? You're playing what if.

Yeah. What if this word true? Well, that's called alternate history. It's called science fiction.

What if Hillary Clinton won instead of Barack Obama? That's what she's writing about this.

Exactly. And it was a doozy.

This article was a doozy.

Well, my, my, my counterfactuals, would Megan McCartle have a job if the Koch brothers were shoe salesmen in Wichita?

And the answer is no.

No, because they keep her start.

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