Posted on 08/02/2025 6:57:59 AM PDT by Starman417
The esteemed Thomas Sowell, easily the most important economist of the last 50 years, turned 95 a couple of weeks ago. He has an extraordinary ability to take complex ideas about economics and culture and distill them down in prose that speaks to everyone from PhDs to those with a GED.
His ability and willingness to address issues from race to economics to history in compellingly readable books are unmatched. Indeed, his Cultures trilogy is one of the most robust weapons one might equip themselves with in any battle against the nonsensical wokeness that plagues America in the early 21st century.
As one would expect from a career spanning over six decades, Dr. Sowell has more than a few quotes that are perfect for our time. My favorite is easily:
“Racism is not dead, but it is on life support — kept alive by politicians, race hustlers and people who get a sense of superiority by denouncing others as racists.”
Another is:
“One of the sad signs of our times is that we have demonized those who produce, subsidized those who refuse to produce, and canonized those who complain.”
As accurate as those quotes are, the following is perhaps the most insightful I’ve ever read:
“One of the common failings among honorable people is a failure to appreciate how thoroughly dishonorable some other people can be, and how dangerous it is to trust them.”
While that quote seems like a reasonable observation in a normal political framework where politicians tell lies about one another and make promises they never intend to keep, today it’s something more. Its cutting accuracy seems to have been demonstrated every week since Donald Trump 47 took office, from USAID to intransigent bureaucrats to rogue judges. But now, finally, maybe, someone is starting to heed Dr. Sowell’s words.
I’m talking, of course, about the Russiagate hoax that Barack Obama and his national security team foisted on the American people. CIA Director John Brennan, FBI Director James Comey, and Director of National Intelligence James Clapper essentially manipulated the Intelligence Community Assessment [ICA] such that the impact of a Trump Russia collusion charge was devastating. And they had a bit of help from the beginning.
Essentially, they undermined the credibility of the incoming administration and saddled the country with two years of intrigue, corruption, and uncertainty in the form of an investigation by Special Counsel Robert Mueller. What’s more, Paul Ryan, the then-Speaker of the House who basically would have been just as happy with a President Hillary Clinton, would use the distraction to undermine Trump’s No. 1 issue: the border wall. He delayed the fight until after the 2018 midterms, which of course ended up being a bloodbath for the GOP.
Needless to say, Trump’s No. 1 issue was DOA when Congress reconvened.
By the time Mueller reluctantly admitted that there was nothing to the Russiagate hoax — six months after the midterms — the damage had already been done. Some coups take the form of military takeovers, others involve assassinations; this one involved a conspiracy at the highest levels of the Obama administration.
Things are not supposed to work like that. We have elections so the people can decide how they would like the nation to be governed. While there are always many people who are unhappy with the outcome, most Americans accept it because they believe in the system established by our Constitution.
John Adams said of that Constitution: "[It] was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other." That is demonstrably true. It’s a piece of paper. Americans accept the outcomes of elections not because there are stormtroopers stationed on every corner ensuring acquiescence, but rather because they believe that, while flawed, our constitutional elections are a relatively honest and fair way to decide our paths forward.
Which brings us back to Sowell’s quote:
(Excerpt) Read more at floppingaces.net...
“John Adams said of that Constitution: “[It] was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.””
The Democrats understood that PERFECTLY, which is why they decided in 1965 to pass a law redirecting our immigration efforts from Europe to Third World S-holes.
Between Milley, January 6, and Butler, PA, we got doses of those, too. …And NEVER forget the Covid Coup that led to a fradulent General Election!
“One of the common failings among honorable people is a failure to appreciate how thoroughly dishonorable some other people can be, and how dangerous it is to trust them.”
Leftists see that disparity and demand policies to help those "poor" people. However, Sowell points out that a large percentage of those people are new entrants into the labor force in low-paying jobs, like a teenager flipping burgers at McDonalds. Look at that same teenager 10 years from now and he's moved into the middle of the income distribution all by himself with no help from the gov't.
A flow variable is measured over time. If I ask you what your income is and you say $100, that makes no sense because it could be "per hour", "per day", or even "per year". Flow variables must have a time subscript. However, if I ask you how much you have in your savings account and you say $100, that makes sense. "Stock" variables do not need a time subscript.
The problem is politicians form economic policy decisions based on stock variables (i.e., a snapshot) when flow solutions are needed. Sowell points this out nicely in his book. Alas, most economics policies are flow variables that need time to work, but politicians have a long run that is framed by their term of office.
BTTT
As an economist myself, I rate Sowell a half-notch below Friedman as the greatest economist in recent history.
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I agree with you but both are great. For Sowell, it’s easy to love a guy who started out from a family destitute of everything, embraced Marxism and then left it far far behind as he grew intellectually and figured out so much about how the real world worked.
It was all organized and schemed and implemented with huge resources behind the scenes not just against the USA, but to pull up the West by its Christian based roots and replace it with a tyrannical woke pro Islamic, WEF architected anti-Christ spirit.
Any honest elected leaders in the USA, UK, Canada, New Zealand and Australia are going to have to stand up, right now, today and show courage and do what must be done when faced with treason and sedition against their nations.
However, for 9 years he has misunderstood Trump's genius and policies.
In a live April 2025 interview, Sowell told Peter Robinson of the Hoover Institution that Trump's tariff proposals wouldn't work.
So how could a scholar and writer of countless books on economics get it so wrong?
Well, listen to what Steve Jobs said informally about consultants and others who lack skin in the game. (2 minute YouTube))
If you are looking for a classically trained scholar who "gets" what Trump is doing, Victor Davis Hanson wins hands down.
yep... been saying it for 5 months... All the fraud found-0 Indictments... all the corruption found-0 Indictments
The second we are out of power it is all going back to what it was. Democrats act and throw people in prison for false crimes. Republicans make excuses not to act and are content with gossiping about new Bombshell and Breaking news stories about Republican investigations that amount to nothing.
Until people start getting arrested for something... Anything... aint a GD thing gonna change...
Yawn.......
Sowell cannot think outside the box.Indeed , he is so INSIDE the box he cannot contemplate the extraordinary input into the system that tariffs bring.
We are making a whole NEW box. And Sowell and Powell are in a world now that they do not understand.
We are involved in an economic paradigm shift using techniques of economy that were formerly not contemplated because they were too risky.
National security, world peace and economy are now all inter linked. And now Trump is Captain of a Battleship of economy where as formerly it was merely a party yacht run by a bunch of self aggrandizing, non-businessmen political hacks.
Sowell and Powell: Welcome to Trumps Brave New World, we have had enough of the former Brave New World of the idiot Democrats.
... and their numerous crime partners:
“And now Trump is Captain of a Battleship of economy where as formerly it was merely a party yacht run by a bunch of self aggrandizing, non-businessmen political hacks”.........and their accomplices.....
Crucial point......
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