Megan McArdle has done a bang-up job in digging up an inconvenient truth about that NYT economics reporter who mismanaged his money and his life and then wrote a book about it. That truth is that Patty Barreiro, our hapless reporter's wife - note that she didn't take his name, always a bad sign - has declared bankruptcy not once, but twice - first with her first husband, and second with her second. Her husband, Edmund Andrews, then writes his sob story of a book, blaming the bankers and asserting that everyone was doing it.I call BS. As McArdle reports, Barreiro and her first husband had six-figure incomes during the 90s when they decided that they wouldn't pay their legally incurred debts through bankruptcy. Then, "[i]n 2007, nearly as soon as she was eligible, Patty Barreiro filed again in Montgomery Country." McArdle makes it look very suspicious that the bankruptcies were cleverly managed because they wanted to avoid paying their bills, not because they couldn't.
This makes Edmund "Beta Boy" Andrews look not like a mere fool, but a knave. According to anonymous sources, it was Andrews who broke up his own first marriage by leaving his then wife for Barreiro which, if true, means that this NYT economics journalist barely possesses adult thinking skills. Who would set his life on the path to ruin on account of a 50-something woman who bitches at him for bringing up money problems?
Bring back debtor's prison. Don't get married. Or if you do, make sure you have a prenup, and make sure your wife isn't a past-her-prime spendthrift who serially stiffs creditors.
"Nothing says "P-whipped half-a-shell-of-a-man whose life is already over" quite like those Dockers duds." - Martin B.
Update: Edmund Andrews responds. On PBS, which means that he's still on my dime. I still call BS. So does Blodget.
And what's more, there's the bodies of a dog and teenage girl on his front steps! Poor, stupid bastard....
ReplyDeleteLife's tough, it's even tougher if you're stupid.
ReplyDeleteSailer has a post on this creep. He and his wife are nothing but lying scum who want to blame everyone else for their problems and who failed to game the system one last time. This is the liberal establishment, they hate, hate, hate you and me. Rules don't apply to them.
ReplyDeleteJust look at this asshole and then look at who he "worked" for, 2 pieces of the same filthy raiment that blankets this nation with lies, garbage, disease and worse. If there is any justice in this world (and Lord, I think there will be and it will be terrifying) they'll die alone, hungry, cold and scared.
I told you guys it was the wife in the last post! Becuase this site is often so-anti-female I'm surprised you guys didn't pinpoint that.
ReplyDelete----
"Don't get married":
Why do you want to throw the baby out with the bath water? You should marry a nice girl who is frugal.
Newshour ran a feature on the Andrews-Barrieros last night:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/business/jan-june09/andrews_05-21.html
I love the way the poor schlub tried to blame the mortgage broker who provided him the, quote, 'really cruddy, creepy subprime loan'.
"EDMUND ANDREWS: That is Bob, the man who started this whole adventure for me."
Wrong, you idiot. This is a mess that is entirely of your own making. The 'whole adventure' started when you dumped your first wife to hook up with some Latina bimbo you had the hots for 30-something years ago.
"At 5/22/2009 07:41:00 AM, "Anonymous said...
ReplyDeleteAnd what's more, there's the bodies of a dog and teenage girl on his front steps! Poor, stupid bastard...."
I just laughed and laughed, after reading that. Of course, that may have been the effect of the 10 extra-strength Tylenol I'd taken about 45 minutes earlier. (Got root canal yesterday evening. Again.)
I'm feeling so friendly just now, i just told The Boss that she's a bloomin' genius!
If they had the means to pay then the court should have either denied her bankruptcy or forced her into a partial repayment plan.
ReplyDelete"You should marry a nice girl who is frugal."
ReplyDeleteExcellent idea. She and I can then go live on my unicorn farm where we'll be feted by fairies and leprechauns every night.
Miles here guys, but not here to pile on.
ReplyDeleteInductivist (Ron Gunhame) has had a few posts as of late in which he mentions his suggestion that young men might want to consider marrying nice, conservative Christian girls. You know guys, I think Ron is right. I'd take a "6" Christian girl who bored me to death talking about the Apostle Paul's struggles over a 8.5 Argentinian-SWPL who worried me to death over keeping up with the Jones'es. You'd have more well-behaved kids too. That chick is quite hot to be 49, but oh I bet she is a pain-in-the-@**.
I get the feeling (like one of the posters here) that this guy probably had a long-time crush on this woman most of his life, and he was her "beta"-fallback guy in her mind. She could always have him if things didn't work out, and she knew it. I think a man would be much better off with a regular gal who really loved him. I bet this dude wished that he married a bank employee, or a chick that worked at the post office now.
Snarky question: why do people go into debt on items that GO DOWN in value like clothes and appliances? I understand going in debt for a house, or even certain kinds of cars that might acquire antique value. Credit cards were "invented" in the 1950's gentlemen, and they were only for eating in NY-area resturaunts. Your grandparents did without em'. Debit cards keep her from being able to spend more than is in your account. My two cents. m
""You should marry a nice girl who is frugal."
ReplyDeleteExcellent idea. She and I can then go live on my unicorn farm where we'll be feted by fairies and leprechauns every night."
I chuckled.
This guy obviously succumbed to this same kind of magical thinking. Blindsided by lust, he missed every single warning sign - all of which are obvious to us just from reading his account of it. He flushed his life down the toilet for a pipe dream. I can't wait to read the article he writes after this broad ditches him (pending book sales) and moves on to the next schmuck.
She's not wearing a bra.
ReplyDeleteHOT!
If you check Megan McCardle's post (including the comments), you'll see that this "tale of woe" continues to unravel. Patty borrowed $16,000 from her sister, whom she neglected to repay. The sister then sued Patty (which tells you something about the sister's take on the situation). Patty hired an attorney to represent her, then (surprise!) failed to pay him as well.
ReplyDeleteThis chick is really a piece of work. What next, raiding her kid's piggy banks to go shopping at Saks? All I can say is, thank God for the internet. No way the MSM ever would have treated this as anything other than the tragedy of decent, hard-working people taken in by the excesses of capitalism run amok.
"It is accordingly with justice that the Koran declares all spendthrifts to be “brothers of Satan.”" - Schopenhauer
ReplyDeleteInductivist (Ron Gunhame) has had a few posts as of late in which he mentions his suggestion that young men might want to consider marrying nice, conservative Christian girls. You know guys, I think Ron is right. I'd take a "6" Christian girl who bored me to death talking about the Apostle Paul's struggles over a 8.5 Argentinian-SWPL who worried me to death over keeping up with the Jones'es.This is true, but while I might sound like a broken record since I've posted on this many times before, there are a few caveats.
ReplyDelete1) Conservative Christian girls will absolutely refuse to so much as grab coffee with a guy who is not a conservative Christian himself. If they met you somewhere other than at church or through a mutual Christian friend, they will be suspicious. They will grill you, have their friends and family grill you, to make sure that deep down you really love Jesus with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength (Mark 12:30.) 2 Corinthians 6:14 says "do not be yoked together with unbelievers" and though the passage does not actually mention marriage, in the evangelical world this is pretty much known as the "do not marry someone who is not a born-again Christian" verse and is taken very seriously as such. If you're agnostic but respectful of religion, and hope to snag one of these girls just because you think her beliefs will make her a good wife, it probably won't work, and it would be unethical anyway because you'd be fooling her.
2) It's debatable how much her beliefs will make her a good wife anyway, if by "good wife" you mean one who will appreciate you for the old reasons and not be affected by all this alpha/beta stuff. The reason I've softened somewhat on Roissy's blog is that, having looked into the seduction community, I've seen that what they've discovered about female psychology really is universal--it applies just as much to conservative Christian women as it does to nonreligious ones. I'm a conservative Christian myself, and for YEARS I was utterly baffled about why I was unable to find a wife despite supposedly being exactly what every conservative Christian girl was looking for: committment-ready, dependable, loyal, good future provider, "nice" (read: shy and boring.) When I started reading some seduction community materials last winter, it was as though the scales fell from my eyes. I finally noticed what had been right in front of me the whole time: even in church circles, it's the cool, socially dominant, alpha-male-type guys whom the girls all have crushes on. It doesn't matter if they're construction workers who just got laid off and haven't found a new job yet; they're the ones the girls all want to be with. Meanwhile, I can show up and introduce myself as a medical student, and there is often some initial interest, but with timid body language, a tendency to run out of things to talk about rather quickly, discomfort at casually touching people, and a lack of experience at building rapport with people, I get nowhere.
It sucks, but even if a conservative Christian wife is what you're in the market for, you're better served by buying a motorcycle and learning to play the guitar, than by working to advance your career and becoming a good provider. Granted, you have to be a professing Christian for these girls to be interested in you, but that's just a baseline requirement, not something that acutally makes them attracted to you.
Hermes, The way you describe yourself makes me unattracted to you. Be a man.
ReplyDeleteBe a man.
ReplyDeleteBeing a man is exactly what men like Hermes and myself were taught to do and try to be, but all of a sudden the rules have changed. Women no longer seem to value what we thought it was to be a man: being solid, steady, earning a decent living to provide for loved ones. Now they want Harleys or Ferraris and tattoos and assholes, so it seems. I have to side with Hermes here. I mean, for God's sake, he's in med school, and unless there's something that he's not telling us, there's no reason on earth that women shouldn't be all over him.
Women no longer seem to value what we thought it was to be a man: being solid, steady, earning a decent living to provide for loved ones. Now they want Harleys or Ferraris and tattoos and assholes, so it seems..
ReplyDelete.
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I don't know ... some women are drawn to Bad Boy types, but by no means all, and by and large they're the sort of women who are better avoided.
Peter
Med School is fine I guess but it sounds like he needs to get his head out of the books and relate to people... his own words, "timid body language, a tendency to run out of things to talk about rather quickly, discomfort at casually touching people, and a lack of experience at building rapport with people"
ReplyDeleteIt's not wonder he can't get a date! Ferraris and tattoos have NOTHING to do with it. I don't care how friggin' Christian you are BORING PEOPLE ARE NO FUN TO BE AROUND!
I think you made my point. Since when was a man supposed to provide entertainment for a woman? Sure, if you want a slew of girlfriends, but Hermes is talking about a wife. And you can't change your personality; you're born with it.
ReplyDelete"Since when was a man supposed to provide entertainment for a woman?"
ReplyDeleteSince we first crawled down from the trees, in my estimation.
Hermes, go in search of a cute, not beautiful, female nerd. Such creatures do exist. If you're in med school, you're obviously bright. This may prove enticing to this elusive creature. Your confidence and ease around this hypothetical cute female nerd will increase as you discover that she actually does find you, with your perhaps weird and maybe even geeky sense of humor, entertaining.
But don't overdo the geekiness. Part of the problem is that you describe yourself in consistently negative terms. One of ther weird truths that I've discovered along the way is that, to a remarkable extent (even to a frightening extent) people accept you for whatever you present yourself to be. I remember in high school saying, "but can't you see that this guy is absolutely full of bullshit." A few could, but most were oblivious. They just thought, "Wow, what a great guy!" Actually, this is the foundation of our political process.
As a bonus, you and this cute female nerd will probably have some really intelligent kids. This will make their lives more difficult in certain ways, but also, more interesting.
By the way, my wife is not a nerds, so all of this advice is, itself, kind of hypothetical. Just trying to help.
A lame personality (that he was born with) might explain his predicament better than lack of ferraris, tattoos, etc.
ReplyDeleteAnd just because you are a Christian, a doctor, good-looking, etc. doesn't guarantee you a spouse even though you may think it should. There is more to "human attraction" than Christianity and earnings potential!
Seriously, from the way this guy writes about himself I think I understand his predicament. I further predict he won't find a date (much less a spouse) until he gets off his high horse.
Here are the bankruptcy filings:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.scribd.com/doc/15752959/Patricia-Barreiro-Sisson-1998-Bankruptcy-Filing
http://www.scribd.com/doc/15752809/Patricia-Barreiro-2007-Bankruptcy-Filing
She actually stiffed her sister for $29K.
Dennis,
ReplyDeleteThis Andrews fellow may be a "beta" as you say (for letting his wife help drive them into bankruptcy), but I'm not sure why you put him down for being with a woman his own age. Some men who can attract younger women prefer dating women their own age. I think Mike Bloomberg, the self-made billionaire and mayor of New York City, is one such man.
Also, if I may ask, where are you meeting women who are looking for "Harleys or Ferraris and tattoos and assholes"? Are there any women who work in your lab? Does this describe them? I have some good friends who are scientists at drug companies, and I've met a few of their female colleagues in social settings and they didn't seem to be tattoo & asshole types.
Hermes,
I'm no expert in the Christian dating scene, but my girlfriend and I did happen to be seated at a friend's wedding near a couple that met via a Catholic dating website. The girlfriend/fiancee (I forget if they were engaged) was a fairly extroverted and well-spoken woman of part Latin American origin and the boyfriend was the sort of man you and Dennis seem to feel doesn't get the girl anymore: a nice guy with a good job, but not particularly extroverted or charismatic. I forget the name of the site where these two found each other, but I offer this anecdote to show that there is such a site, and that there's hope for such men. Good luck.
Did I "put down" Andrews because he's with a woman his own age? I don't see where I did, but in any case my own personal taste would be that if I were going to blow hundreds of thousands of dollars, leave a marriage, go bankrupt and possibly lose my job, the woman in question would have to be hotter and younger than Barreiro. She's held up alright for her age, but otherwise isn't that great. Of course, she's "regal".
ReplyDeleteAs for the women in my lab (and elsewhere in my building) few of them have the values, looks, brains, or relative youth I'm interested in. The majority of women these days, especially if over the age of 21, are overweight, they spend their spare time on cell phones or something called Facebook, (or TV), and generally, and don't appreciate traditional anything. I don't know what's happened, but there is something very wrong out there.
I obviously need to work on my writing skills, because I have this problem often, where I think I am being merely descriptive, but others think I am making a moral assertion. To those who are saying "duh, you're boring," I already know that. Hence my statement that I looked into the seduction community and the scales fell from my eyes. I realize now why I have heretofore been unattractive to women. I am starting to work on these things, and I believe I have made some progress so far, but it takes time when you're fighing 32 years worth of not only bad habits, but false explicit teachings from family, the media, churches, and basically the entire society.
ReplyDeleteAnd you can't change your personality; you're born with it.I don't know, Dennis. It's one of the founding tenets of the seduction community that you CAN change your personality. Plenty of guys out there claim to have done it.
"Did I "put down" Andrews because he's with a woman his own age?"I stand corrected. But you do seem derisive about his wife's age ("past her prime"). Barreiro deserves derision for being a deadbeat, not for living as long as she has.
ReplyDeleteRe your situation, where, besides your lab, have you been looking for potential mates?
Hermes: Sure, people change the face they present in different situations. The Big Five personality factors, not so much. I can understand making a show of self-confidence, which is what I understand the "seduction community" to be all about. I guess I just find the concept rather difficult in execution.
ReplyDeleteDave: What I'm derisive about is that this guy left his wife (apparently) for a chick that drove him, or helped anyway, into BK. If instead they had just snuggled into their love nest and had a nice, quiet life, I wouldn't find a lot to be derisive about. But then there wouldn't be a story and we wouldn't have heard about them. It's the self-deception on his part that I find so worthy of derision: he's a grown man, supposedly an expert in economics, and he couldn't see this woman for what she really is, which is immature, dishonest, and selfish. Now if she were those things and 25, that would be another story... sort of.
Dennis,
ReplyDeleteI share your derision for Andrews and his wife being irresponsible, etc., but re this:
"Now if she were those things and 25, that would be another story... sort of."If all the facts above were the same except his second wife were 25, Andrews would still be worthy of derision, and, he'd be a walking midlife crisis cliche to boot (though, given their history, marrying Barreiro probably was just a slightly subtler midlife crisis move).
Update: this couple was profiled on ABC's 20/20 this evening, with the usual concomitant interviews and clips of them going about their daily business. I have to say that while I'm still not sold on the idea that khakis = beta male, after seeing them in action you can tell that Edmund Andrews is a pathetic excuse for a man.
ReplyDelete