Posted on 12/13/2010 9:05:41 PM PST by jazusamo
Among the books I read this year, the one that made the biggest impact on me was "New Deal or Raw Deal" ($10.20; 32% OFF) by Burton Folsom, Jr., a professor at Hillsdale College. It was that rare kind of book, one thoroughly researched by a scholar and yet written in plain language, readily understood by anyone.
So many myths and legends glorifying Franklin D. Roosevelt and his New Deal administration have become part of folklore that a dose of cold facts is very much needed.
The next time someone repeats one of the many myths about FDR, or tries to use the New Deal as a model of how we should try to solve current economic problems, whoever reads this book will have the hard, documented facts with which to shoot down such claims.
Another book by the same author was published this year-- the 6th edition of was "The Myth of the Robber Barons." ($9.95) When I have asked people, "Just whom did the robber barons rob?" I have never gotten an answer. This book shows why.
Apparently the real sin of the so-called "robber barons," like that of Wal-Mart today, is that they charged lower prices than their competitors, many of whom went out of business because they were not efficient enough to be able to bring down their prices.
A book more focused on our contemporary culture is "Spoilt Rotten!" by Theodore Dalrymple. Its subtitle gives its theme: "The Toxic Cult of Sentimentality."..
(Excerpt) Read more at jewishworldreview.com ...
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To the people who call conservatives racist I say, “Run this guy for office and I’ll dedicate my life to getting him
elected”.
Boy is THAT the truth. I’m sick to death of the PC crowd using the race card. It is sooo yesterday and it’s not working any more. Also like Thomas Sowell very much. Check out some of his many quotes: http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/t/thomas_sowell.html
like this one: Socialism in general has a record of failure so blatant that only an intellectual could ignore or evade it.
Thomas Sowell
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Thanks for the ping jaz. I’ll be keeping an eye out for some of those books.
That praise could equally be applied to any book written by Sowell... ( I've got the book for my son now ... life is good. )
I confess that I have a soft spot for Nixon that Sowell doesn't share . . .
Nixon refused to contest the 1960 election which probably was stolen from him. Gore contested the 2000 election which he had in fact lost. And Nixon resigned rather than be impeached; Clinton accepted impeachment defiantly - and after his term expired he settled the charges against him in such a way as makes clear that he was guilty as sin. Either one of those two looks worse to me than Nixon.
Nixon's behavior in office can be seen as his having learned the wrong lessons from 1960, JFK, and LBJ. There is a book about Nixon which was written by a British MP, which lists five things which either broke against Nixon or which Nixon declined to do on principle, any one of which could have turned the razor-thin margin of defeat in 1960. Including his refusal to run a "southern strategy" campaign as he did in '68. In 1960 history was still in favor of Republicans winning a majority of the black vote, and the South was still segregated. Nixon could have won by running for the southern electoral votes in 1960, but he would have given up the black vote - which in fact he didn't get anyway - and hence his decision to go for the southern vote in 1968.
I just requested the Folsom book from the library.
thanks jaz, and any lurkers that wanna send stockin stuffers, well Im a humble recipient...8^}
thanks fer the brainyquote link...Dr Sowell is one of a kind...
I remember the 1960 election well though I was just shy of voting age. My folks were staunch Republicans and my Mom was a voting precinct worker. I grew up less than 30 miles from Nixon’s home town and they were very upset he didn’t contest the election, it was evident there was massive fraud in some states.
I voted for Nixon twice and I doubt he was any worse than JFK and pretty sure not as corrupt as LBJ. Though he did some things that weren’t right I’ve never held the disdain for him that many have. I’ve voted in every election since reaching voting age but was not paying a lot of attention to politics back in my early voting years, I was busy making a living and supporting a family.
LOL! I just got Walter William’s book and haven’t read it yet but by the time it’s passed around for all the family to read it’ll be pretty dog eared. :-)
I’ll bet the redoubtable Mr. Sowell likes Henry Hazlitt’s cornerstone, “Economics in One Lesson” as well.
“New Deal or Raw Deal” sounds like a must-read volume. If it made a “big impact” on someone with Sowell’s economic prowess and knowledge, how much more can the rest of us learn from it?
You’re dead on the money. Dr. Sowell doesn’t recommend so so books.
If you’re not aware of it he does this every Christmas season. At the below link you can scroll down to each December for his book picks column.
http://www.jewishworldreview.com/cols/sowell1.asp
Pretty much my only beef with Nixon is his paranoia. He was right on many issues. Oh yeah, the EPA. :-(
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