"I've spent my career trying to help people without connections understand what's going on so that they have a chance of getting a fair shake from the connected and the powerful"
About this Quote
A good journalist doesn’t just report what happened; he translates the power grid. Allan Sloan frames his career as a kind of consumer protection for democracy: if you don’t have “connections,” you’re already negotiating from a weaker position, and the first step toward a “fair shake” is knowing the rules that the connected quietly take for granted.
The line works because it’s blunt about class without slipping into cosplay populism. “Connected and powerful” isn’t a cartoon villain; it’s a description of how modern systems actually function. Sloan’s subtext is that institutions don’t merely produce outcomes, they produce confusion - and confusion is a revenue stream. Whether the arena is Wall Street, corporate accounting, or policy, complexity can be weaponized: fees disguised as features, risk rebranded as innovation, layoffs narrated as “efficiency.” If you can’t decode the language, you can’t contest the terms.
“Trying to help people... understand what’s going on” is also a quiet rebuke to access journalism. Connections can buy insider tips and favorable framing; Sloan positions his authority differently: not as proximity to elites, but as service to readers who get crushed by opaque incentives and fine print. There’s humility in “trying,” an admission that the system is designed to outrun explanation, and that fairness is never guaranteed - only fought for, story by story.
Contextually, this is the mission statement of accountability business reporting in an era when finance became more abstract, lobbying more sophisticated, and the cost of not understanding the machinery more personal. Sloan isn’t promising salvation. He’s promising a flashlight.
The line works because it’s blunt about class without slipping into cosplay populism. “Connected and powerful” isn’t a cartoon villain; it’s a description of how modern systems actually function. Sloan’s subtext is that institutions don’t merely produce outcomes, they produce confusion - and confusion is a revenue stream. Whether the arena is Wall Street, corporate accounting, or policy, complexity can be weaponized: fees disguised as features, risk rebranded as innovation, layoffs narrated as “efficiency.” If you can’t decode the language, you can’t contest the terms.
“Trying to help people... understand what’s going on” is also a quiet rebuke to access journalism. Connections can buy insider tips and favorable framing; Sloan positions his authority differently: not as proximity to elites, but as service to readers who get crushed by opaque incentives and fine print. There’s humility in “trying,” an admission that the system is designed to outrun explanation, and that fairness is never guaranteed - only fought for, story by story.
Contextually, this is the mission statement of accountability business reporting in an era when finance became more abstract, lobbying more sophisticated, and the cost of not understanding the machinery more personal. Sloan isn’t promising salvation. He’s promising a flashlight.
Quote Details
| Topic | Justice |
|---|
More Quotes by Allan
Add to List
