Though I am only an autodidact in economics, I have a great interest in understanding how the U.S. economy works. This is one of the reasons I follow the Twitter feeds of people like @thestalwart, @hblodget and @ericjackson. They talk about things with which I agree, things with which I don't, and others that expand my knowledge into new areas. I don't want to be a mere potted plant sitting idly by, so I step into the conversation to challenge, ask, and learn. So should you.
To their credit, each of the persons listed above (and many other luminaries) have been willing to engage with me and others. I appreciate the generosity they show with their time and knowledge. When talking about economics or policy, I do my best to remain apolitical so that we remain focused on the idea and information. That makes it less likely that honest disagreements about philosophy will turn into ad hominem attacks or be clouded by political affiliations.
The real risk of such engagement is the difficulty in displaying nuance. While the 140-character limit often forces an elegant, pithy brevity, it also can breed misunderstanding. The best thing to do is to focus on the question/issue and ignore things that are irrelevant to it. If the twitchat degrades, simply walk away.
I have no fear of challenging conclusions or underlying assumptions about the articles, graphs, and other data these power-Tweeters share. Perhaps I can share a different perspective with them, maybe they will show me that I have a hole in my reasoning, or that I am just flat wrong. No matter what, I will exit the interaction knowing more than when I entered it. You will be too.
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