There are those cool customers like Bernie Madoff. Those seeming narcissists can get in the game and play it brilliantly, no matter if the economy is in boom or bust. Then there are those run-of-the-mill narcissists who are being barred from the game in this economy of scarcity. [A good read on this personality type is WHY IS IT ALWAYS ABOUT YOU? by Sandy Hotchkiss.]
Locked inside themselves, these plain-vanilla self-absorbed creatures miss all the new signals in the marketplace. For example, favors done for them they take as what's entitled them instead of a situation that must be reciprocated. When others realize this, they simply close ranks, isolating the narcissists. In addition, their social skills are usually poor. They issue commands rather than nicely make requests. That really ticks us off, as we struggle through one stressful day after another.
Who thrives in an economy of scarcity? Essentially, alert hustlers, working class kids who got enough education to enter the white-collar game, and recovered narcissists who have learned some brutal lessons, and boy, have they learned them.
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