I called into Randy Simms' Open Line show this morning on VOCM to voice my opposition to the tenets of the Occupy Movement. I think I learned a few things from calling in. First of all, Randy sort of took control of the conversation and I don't think I was clear or definitive enough on my purpose for calling.
Randy started talking about the Scandinavian countries and said they are the best places to live in the world and they do not have free-market capitalism, but they have limits placed on it. My topic was going to be why the capitalist system is the best, but also why it's a fallacy to think the rich are getting richer at the expense of the "poor". Also, I wanted to point out that more economic freedom was better for everyone.
Anyway, Randy made some irrelevant points, after I listed the most economically free countries and said they also have the highest standards of living, Randy responded by saying they are just tax havens because they are so small, even though I named Hong Kong, Singapore, Australia, New Zealand, Switzerland, and Canada. Combined, these countries have a population of 80 million. Randy pointed to Norway and other Scandinavian countries as examples of mixed-systems. Ironically, Norway has only 5 million people which is less than Hong Kong and the same as Singapore.
What I learned from this encounter is I really have to narrow down my topic to one small item. I cannot try to tackle too much on a single call. I have to narrow it down to a single topic and focus on that.
Also, Randy kept changing the goal posts. Whenever I would make a point, he would immediately go to another topic. That's why I have to keep things on track.
One interesting thing is that Randy made indirect reference to me with another caller, a CEO from the fishing industry. He said basically should we open up the market as a previous caller has suggested, which was a reference to me.
Anyway, it was a learning experience, and I hope to have many more.
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