Over at our new global economics blog, Wealth of Nations, my esteemed colleague, Barrett Sheridan, has taken a hilarious look at The Philippines' Imelda Marcos, who was recently featured as one of Newsweek's greediest people. You see, if you google "NEWSWEEK and Greed," you'll get many hits from the Philippines, where our recent greed list has made headlines. Marcos isn't mad though. In fact, she confesses that she's "guilty" of greed.
Barrett's just as confused as I am with her NEWSWEEK-inspired confession. As he writes:
Two weeks ago our crack digital team released a package on the history of greed, which included a photographic parade of some of the greediest figures of all time.
Nestled amongst the likes of Genghis Khan, Charles Ponzi and Bernie
Madoff was the Philippines' own Imelda Marcos, the widow of former
dictator Ferdinand Marcos, who ruled the country from 1965 to 1986.
During that time, Ms. Marcos achieved notoriety for her fashionable
taste -- while the average Filipino lived on less than $2 a day, Ms.
Marcos jetted to New York and Rome for $5 million shopping sprees, and
built up an impressive collection of 3,000 pairs of shoes.
It
seemed fitting, then, to open the gallery with the above image of Ms.
Marcos, her rouged cheeks, jade earrings and blinged-out ring fingers a
perfect glimpse into modern materialism.
Apparently, Ms.
Marcos doesn't disagree. NEWSWEEK's selection of her provoked a bit of
controversy back in the Pacific island nation, enough that Ms. Marcos
eventually had to address the issue herself:
I plead guilty. For me, greedy is giving. I was first lady for 20
years, you have to be greedy first to give to all. It is natural. The
only things we keep in life are those we give away.
Righhhtttttt. Check out the video of her "defense" here.
(Her English-language statement starts about 35 seconds in; footage of
some glorious shoes and jewels is just after the minute mark.)
Something tells me that the perfectly matching flower brooch and purple
necklace she's wearing, should she choose to "be greedy" and "give to
all," could support several Manila families for quite some time.
But give her points for being a First Amendment fan: She says she won't sue NEWSWEEK for the honorific.
