Why was Francisco d'Anconia amused by Ellis Wyatt's imminent demise?

Question

At one point, Dagny Taggart confronts Francisco d'Anconia about what she believed to be his corruption. As part of that, they had the following exchange:

"Do you... know Ellis Wyatt?"
"Sure."
"Do you know what this might do to him?"
"Yes. He's the one who's going to be wiped out next.
"Do you... find that... amusing?"
"Much more amusing than the ruin of the Mexican planners."

Obviously, Francisco knew that Ellis Wyatt would presumably join the Strike (which he did). With that said, though, in what sense did he consider this amusing?

Answer 1

Schadenfreude. Francisco hates government planners and policy makers. He likes to see them fail. But what is it that he finds amusing? He knows something they don't know and he knows people better than the planners and policy makers. If they knew that thing, they wouldn't have done it.

I'll try to explain with an analogy.

Person A is preparing a surprise party for Person B.

It is talking about preparations to person C. Person C claimed to everyone that person A is a bad party planner.

Person A likes strawberries. Because of that, you can say that party is strawberry themed. Strawberry cake, strawberry juice. Even the punch bowl has strawberries in it.

Thing is, Person B is allergic to strawberries. Person C knows that, Person A doesn't. Person C finds it amusing not to tell Person A about the allergy and can't wait for the surprise party to fail, so C can take B for a beer after the ruins of that party.