Posted on 10/23/2014 9:31:04 PM PDT by Intolerant in NJ
Hate to shill for anything PBS, but apparently a group of libertarian organizations put together this special on the life, times, and thinking of Dr. Walter E, Williams which is making the rounds on PBS and I actually caught tonight in prime time on the Philly outlet. Following Williams from his youth in Philadelphia through his time in the army in the late fifties, the program details his introduction to racial discrimination in the military. He was appalled when he discovered that blacks in the army were given only menial assignments; when his lieutenant ordered him to paint a truck he did - headlights, tires, windshield and all. You know what kind of soldier he made. Leaving the army he headed to California for college thoroughly radicalized - he was a follower of Malcolm X, wore a shaorks tooth necklace to his classes, and was rumored to be an enforcer for the Black Panthers. But studying economics because he believed it was the path to his own betterment, he ran across the likes of Hayek and Friedman, and turned to the right side. He gained national prominence with his studies on the minimum wage which he claimed hurt employment opportunities, especially among minority youth. Today he says that the idea that the minimum wage fights poverty is nonsense - otherwise we could abolish poverty worldwide by recommending to countries like Bangladesh that they all simply raise their own minimum wages. In addition to interviews with Williams, we hear form Shelby Steele, Thomas Sowell, Charles Murray, Daniel P. Moynihan, and others. Entertaining, informative, and inspiring - catch it if you can....
Marking for later...
There are 5,240,000 results for him on Google.
What’s his website address?
And where’s a link to the PBS site? You aren’t referring to this one, are you from 2011? http://www.theblogmocracy.com/2011/07/07/walter-williams-pbs-documentary-good-intentions/
I’m sorry, I’m reading way too quickly.
You mean http://www.suffernofoolsfilm.com/.
Thanks for the heads up. I want that Army story, though. Do you know where I can find it? And where is his website?
Dr. Walter E, Williams has been promoting free trade garbage most of his career so I give him a D. Great on capitalist theory but not practice if you mean geo-poltical capitalism.
“http://econfaculty.gmu.edu/wew/"; got me there pretty well....
Army story’s one of those told in the body of the program along with how he managed to get himself court martialled and sent to Korea.....
Here => http://econfaculty.gmu.edu/wew/
I always knew he was a trouble maker. ;)
Apparently you don’t understand economics.
Economically, free trade is the only rational policy. It cannot be denied that less-than-free trade imposes costs on many people, as it benefits others. Less-than-free trade gets in the way of competitive advantage, and thus, necessarily reduces productivity both in the U.S. and abroad.
There are valid national security reasons for less-than-free trade—tariffs, protection, etc. But such policies impose costs, just as having an army, navy, etc., imposes heavy costs. Less-than-free trade is justified for national security reasons, and the costs should be counted among the costs of national security. We SHOULD be as independent as possible in energy, minerals, etc.
If our own government were not strangling oil, gas, and coal, Islam would be a quaint phenomenon as it was 100 years ago. We should be doing everything we can to return the Middle East to squalor and bankruptcy.
But most restrictions on trade are just a crooked racket for those industries that bribe Congress the most, or those that Congress threatens in order to “milk” industries.
Your free trade illusions will never die but know that Koreans, Japanese, Chinese are at least as smart as you and rejected that BS free trade ideology decades ago
You are just mouthing the common Anglo-American-libertarian free trade prejudices. Other cultures full of high IQ people reject them and laugh as such naivete as to how world trade works. All three nations are doing just fine with their mercantilist trade practices
Bump!
You really need an economics education. Badly.
Sure, there are protectionist tendencies, here there and evrywhere. Even here at home. So what? None of that detracts a bit from the truth, just now explained to you by art McGowan, that there are costs associated with putting those tendencies into praxtice. Maybe there are good reasons for doing so, but blindness ought not be one of them.
I didn’t say that mercantilism or protectionism fill the streets with starving beggars. I said that they impose costs on some people as they benefit others.
Economic thought does not consist in throwing around abusive rhetoric.
Really? How’s that “free trade” thing working for the China-US trade deficit? Truly free trade is an academic exercise between honest actors, of which China is not.
Guess I’m with Walter and Arthur. WW is an excellent economist
What are you smoking?
Free trade within the United States was very important. The US Constitution eliminated all duties and imposts between the states. Prior to this states would actually erect tariffs against other states.
With international enemies, friends, rivals etc it is idiocy to engage in free trade with mercantilist nations that engage in predatory trade. We allow China to flood us with cheap goods because it dampens the inflation rate. It destroys good jobs but the elites could care less. Just create more fake Federal Reserve money and put it into the EBT cards
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