Devin Helton

I read that more as an allusion to public choice theory, but your interpretation of that paragraph is also plausible; conceded! It looks like this guy discusses the matter at greater length here, if anybody is curious: https://devinhelton.com/2015/08/dictatorship-and-democracy

From early 20th century until the 1970s people lived in very walkable neighborhoods and took the subways and street cars to work. Read this post of excerpts from a memoir of growing up in West Philadelphia circa 1968 -- https://devinhelton.com/lost-world-of-west-philadelphia Or better yet, read the book: https://www.amazon.com/Philly-War-Zone-Growing-Battleground-ebook/dp/B… Here is a small quote: Around this time of day, I’d be taking my time walking home with my friends from Most Blessed Sacrament School, or “MBS” as everyone called it. Once home, I’d quickly get out of my school clothes, put on my play clothes, and be on my way to my favorite place in the world, Myers playground. I always felt so safe on Cecil Street. On warm summer nights, lots of adults would sit on soft cushions on the top step of the four concrete steps that led from the edge of our front porches down to the sidewalk. Neighbors would sit out for hours, talking with other neighbors, many of them enjoying a cold beer or some other cold drink. At least one neighbor would have the Phillies game blasting on their transistor radio. So we’d be able to keep track of the Phillies game while we were running up and down the street having fun. I knew everybody on Cecil Street, and they all knew me. In fact, I knew almost everybody in our section of the neighborhood. And I felt safe no matter where I went. All us kids knew that most parents around here looked out for all the kids, not just their…

"One of the solutions to classism is to have people mix more. Live together, school together, work together, marry together." There are two problems with this. One, mixing people together often results in the two groups fighting over scarce resources (whether that be spots on the football team, dates to the prom, playing rights at the local basketball court, or well-paying union or government jobs). The battle for scarce resources actually greatly increases class or race based animosity. Second, there are very real differences in behavioral patterns between groups. If you bring in a low class population that is playing loud music until 12AM and letting their kids make mischief around the neighborhood, again, that is going to greatly increase classism. See for instance the books "Boston Against Busing" or "Philly War Zone: Growing Up in a Racial Battleground" which describes the conflicts that happened when integration was a big thing in the late 60s and early 1970s. I also wrote a blog post myself on how I changed my mind about the usefulness of Section 8 vouchers and using integration as a solution to class and racial divides: http://devinhelton.com/historical-amnesia.html

I don't see a flaw in MMT. This short but very clear article by Devin Helton helped me: "Why the National Debt is the Wrong Problem to Care About" http://devinhelton.com/why-the-national-debt-is-non-problem

I mean people who say stuff like that are almost without fail racist sexist shitheads but I had to dig a bit further for proof: https://devinhelton.com/hate-group-history https://devinhelton.com/principles-of-formalism

This person has a bunch of essays but he comes across as an sad person who doesn't believe in civil rights for women. In an eassy on his website [1], he says "Men have natural abilities and disposition towards leadership. To deny this, to mandate equality of results, to push women into masculine roles, to domesticate and feminize men, only results in misery for both men and women. Universal suffrage elections are virtually always a bad idea." 1. https://devinhelton.com/principles-of-formalism

In another article [1], the author writes that property ownership, "gives people the incentive to apply local knowledge and expertise in order to generate wealth." [1] https://devinhelton.com/principles-of-formalism

We had walkable American cities for centuries. It was the norm. Kids played in alleys and walked to school, neighbors chatted over the back fence, we reaped the economic benefits of density and proximity. Then millions fled America's inner cities in the 1960s due to skyrocketing crime and racial violence. The suburbs were seen as an inferior substitute by many from the start; the upshot was that their kids would be safe from muggings on the street, gunfire in schools, and race riots. Chicagoland writer Ray Hanania (no relation to Richard) wrote about his family's experience with this in Chicago: https://suburbanchicagoland.com/2016/01/29/midnight-flight-chapter-10-… "Yes, it’s wonderful. And, instead of placing your garbage cans in the alley where the stink and unsightliness of the trash would be hidden from view, you will place all that on the front lawn. At the curb. Next to your new mailbox. Oh. I didn’t tell you that your mailbox was a metal little box on the top of a wood poll in your lawn in front of your house along the street? Where any Tom, Dick or Harry could drive by, reach in, and easily steal your Social Security check any time they want?" The suburbs were spaced out and isolated on purpose. The alternative was worse: https://suburbanchicagoland.com/2016/01/29/midnight-flight-chapter-9-m… "When I returned to Bowen High school that fall, there were more Black students registered at the school and there were frequent gang fights…

this isn’t a disagreement on tax policy, this is advocating hatred and violence. I think some "both-sides-ism" is in order here. From the perspective of the right, the left is also advocating hatred, violence and is also trying to do an end-around to thwart democracy. Consider: - The riots we've had in four different cities, riots that occurred before the facts of the case were even known, and which white people were being specifically targeted for violence -- http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/08/milwaukee-protests-asia… - Michelle Obama's support of Beyonce's Black Panthers homage at the Super Bowl (if you are unfamiliar with how destructive the Panthers and the movement associated with it were, you can start here https://devinhelton.com/hate-group-history ) - The left's strategy of "electing a new people" -- favoring mass immigration from Mexico because it will help push liberal policies. This was stated openly in Paul Krugman's "Conscience of a Liberal" and you see articles all the time about it (for example https://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2015/10/19/the-nra-wi… ) - The continued scapegoating of "white men" and "structural racism" as being the source of problems for minorities, even when you do a deep dive on the statistics and the situations that is clearly not the problem. - Selective enforcement of the law, going after Republican associated people in…

Individuals haven't owned much in a very long time; we've been physical serfs living on someone else's land for even longer. You only "own" something so long as you pay taxes (aka rents) for the right to do so, otherwise someone, usually the government, will take it from you. Even if you don't want to play along, you can only be somewhere public for so long until you're loitering and subject to fines (more rents), confiscation (again, more rents), or removal. The whole system is pretty blatantly anti-competitive [1], detrimental to individuals [2][3], and rotting the system from the inside out [4][5]. 1. https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/the-rent-seeking-is-too-damn-high… 2. http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-06-22/us-economy-perverted-neo-feud… 3. https://hackernoon.com/rise-of-the-rent-seeker-how-the-subscription-ec… 4. https://devinhelton.com/2013/04/14/rent-seeking-economy/ 5. https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2016-09-13/banks-and-colleges-…