What follows is a discussion via Twitter, with apparently a New York Times best-selling attorney-turned-novelist, Joe Hilley. Joe deleted some of his tweets after he typed them out (curious...), so the only fragments of some of his end of the discussion are contained in my quoted replies. joehilley - If market leaders in US econ can't address disaparity of income/opportunity issues - the government will do it no one will like the result
beatcanvas - joehilley "If market leaders in US econ can't address disaparity of income/opportunity issues..." Me: Your life is your responsibility.
joehilley - beatcanvas Your life is your responsibility - will be the end of Repub/Conserv
beatcanvas - joehilley "Your life is the responsibility of everyone else" will be the end of America.
beatcanvas - joehilley "My success carries an obligation to care 4 others" - Your obligation is to preserve liberty for others, not provide for them.
beatcanvas - joehilley "Define 'preserve liberty'" - legislate for self-determination, not mandatory confiscation and obligation. Choice, not coercion.
beatcanvas - joehilley "The problem with unfettered choice is that Capitalism is brutal" - To the lazy, yes. Capitalism rewards self-improvement.
beatcanvas - joehilley "The issue is bigger than 'those at the bottom are lazy'" - I didn't say those at the bottom are lazy. Self-improvement fixes it.
beatcanvas - joehilley Those who refuse to adapt and self-improve stay at the bottom - where we all start. Our outcome is result of our choices / labor.
beatcanvas - joehilley "Improvement tools to the poorest?" They're already there, Joe. Example: I used to be homeless. Never graduated college.
beatcanvas - joehilley "Why disparity?" We don't teach the benefits of capitalism, but teach dependence. Effort and self-improvement lost liberty too.
beatcanvas - joehilley You can only help people to the degree that you succeed. You don't push to success if you believe others will take care of you.
beatcanvas - joehilley Joe, you play right into Obama's socialist hand. Good intentions, but you don't believe in the freedom of capitalism.
beatcanvas - joehilley Capitalism creates jobs. Isn't job creation taking responsibility? Or is that a loser message for you?
beatcanvas - joehilley "Capitalism doesn't create jobs anymore." So manufacturing is the only true job? Seriously?
joehilley - beatcanvas The focus of US econ is on creation of wealth in ways accessible to fewer and fewer
beatcanvas - joehilley "Can't Day Trade their way out of poverty" Your view of the market is really narrow. So many means of productivity...
beatcanvas - joehilley Charades, like Madoff, get weeded out and are rare. The basis of capitalism is productivity, which creates jobs/opportunity.
joehilley - beatcanvas Basis of mfg econ was jobs/opps - basis of info econ is trading on info - abstract - shuffling stuff from one pile to the next
joehilley - beatcanvas I mean as a policy - I deal in info. I'm a shuffler of info from one spot to another
beatcanvas - joehilley You miss the info economy. Speed and efficiency of info = greater production, which accelerates money. No $$$ in paper-shuffling.
joehilley - beatcanvas If info meant more mfg with greater efficiency, we'd be the mfg center of the world - We aren't - We're the consuming center.
beatcanvas - joehilley Recommend you investigate "velocity of money" and work to understand capitalism's inherent freedom. Otherwise, you're Obama-lite.
joehilley - beatcanvas I understand capitalism freedom And the last election - Repubs will continue to lose if all they can say is "get a job." And there you have it. The essence is that Joe seems to be a moderate Republican who thinks capitalism is brutal and therefore we, as a nation, have to find some way of helping people obtain access to higher rungs on the ladder. I asked my son earlier today after this discussion when the last time was that he'd heard the phrase "self-improvement" in public. He replied that it had been years. With access to the Internet, we have more ways to access information toward self-improvement than ever before. Joe seems like a guy with good intentions, but he doesn't at all understand the damage he can do trying to be responsible for the lives of others. |
