Framing the Dialogue

Posts Tagged ‘thomas sowell’

Sowell On Occupy

A friend forwarded these comments from Thomas Sowell on our country, the “occupy” crowd, Obama, liberty…America!

“The current Occupy Wall Street movement is the best illustration to date of what President Barack Obama’s America looks like. It is an America where the lawless, unaccomplished, ignorant and incompetent rule. It is an America where those who have sacrificed nothing pillage and destroy the lives of those who have sacrificed greatly.”

“It is an America where history is rewritten to honor dictators, murderers and thieves. It is an America where violence, racism, hatred, class warfare and murder are all promoted as acceptable means of overturning the American civil society.”

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Crying Over Crying Over Spilled Milk

One of my favorite authors, Thomas Sowell, penned an article critical of the United States Environmental Protection Agency. Ordinarily I would concur with his perspective, but cannot bring myself to “park at his ranch” on this issue (I apologize in advance if I lapse into more farm/country colloquialisms). A local syndicated radio host, Jim Quinn, has taken up the mantle and has been talking about the issue. As is often the case when the lame-stream media take up an issue they only scratch the surface thereby missing the bigger picture. In this case these are two conservatives who I respect. This is an excerpt from Sowell’s Townhall article;

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On Classical Economics

You may have heard of Adam Smith and most certainly Karl Marx, but what about John Stuart Mill or Jean-Baptiste Say or John Manard Keynes?  These men and many others are the forefathers of classical economic thought and On Classical Economics is an in depth look at their theories and writings.  Author Thomas Sowell is a fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University and one of my favorite writers and a prolific one at that.  You can read his regular columns at TownHall.com.

On Classical Economics is not a book for light reading and probably is more for folks who really want to probe the depths of classic economic theory. 

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Ever Wonder Why?

Starting a book like this is a daunting task.  Thomas Sowell is one of my favorite writers and I marvel at the ease in which he dissects complex subjects in a very practical and entertaining way.  Ever Wonder Why is a collection of past articles and “other controversial essays” covering race relations, taxes, black history month, public education, the media, and much more.  Because of the format, none of the articles is more than three pages and sometimes the subject left me wanting more from Sowell.

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Socialism (soh-shuh-liz-uhm)

Socialism is defined as:

Socialism 2“an economic system of government which advocates state ownership of the means of production with equal distribution of goods among the people.”

  • Socialist governments own the banks, car companies, farmlands, factories, and stores, and is the only employer and consequently owns the means of production.  The government controls all investments, production, distribution, income, and prices, as well as all organizations, schools, news media and formerly private societies.
  • Socialism is the antithesis of capitalism, opposes private ownership of capital or land, and rejects the free market in favor of central planning. 
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Glenn Beck’s Common Sense

As I listened to  his program last week, Glenn and Stu were discussing, Glenn Beck’s Common Sense.  One thing that they were discussing grabbed me; our congressmen earn more than 95% of ALL American families.  In addition to the nice salary, they also provide themselves with such necessities as subsidized gym memberships, free parking in Washington, and even their own cafeterias.  These cafeterias are exclusive meaning you or I cannot eat there even though we are paying for it.  It is interesting that their salary always falls beneath any demagogued “rich” salary. 

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The Worst Economy Since the Great Depression

This will be an unusual post for me.  I am going to use mostly quotes to tell a story.  A story that I hope will propel you to action.

“The crash was the honest acknowledgement of the breakdown of capitalism…caused by speculating margin traders brought down the nation.”

“The country, he believed, had grown too fast:  beyond ‘our natural and normal growth.’  The problem was that there had been ‘an era of selfishness.’  There existed ‘throughout the nation men and women, forgotten in the political philosophy’ of the last years.”

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Basic Economics: A Common Sense Guide to the Economy

How would you like it if the cost of milk were only two dollars a gallon?  Milk for 99 cents a loaf (and that’s for the fresh stuff)?  How about a gallon of gasoline for 75 cents.  Why doesn’t the government just set the price for us?

That did happen in the old Soviet Union and is currently being implemented in Venezuela.  Has it ever happened in the United States?  Generally, prices in the U.S. are kept artificially high to “protect” producers.  There has been a minimum price on milk for decades.  Nixon, Ford, and Carter, however, promoted gasoline price controls in the 1970s. 

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