Posted on 05/13/2008 6:54:40 PM PDT by jazusamo
I fell in love with Thomas Sowell way, way back when I was reading his columns in Forbes Magazine. He was great then and still gets it right on the money.
“One of the many ironies of politics is that those politicians who do the most to reduce supply often express the greatest outrage about high prices. “
Truest statement I have seen in a while. How many libs are running around screaming about high prices, who opposed drilling in the ANWR, building new refineries or reactors, drilling off-shore, or even building wind farms off-shore because it would hurt Ted Kennedy’s view? They are legion.
How come Dr. Sowell isn’t running for President? We need a rational and logical thinker such as him
Exactly! There’s no better example than the energy fiasco right now.
Thomas Sowell - Walter Williams ‘08. Or Walter Williams - Thomas Sowell ‘08, for that matter. Either way would be fine by me. In any case my dream ticket. Blacks to the Future! Quite possibly the two most intelligent Americans alive.
very nice piece.
1/ Gosh golly wow; Tom Sowell is a really cool guy and smart, too! [If I read one more post that says that I’m gonna scream!]
2/ Is there anyone out there that can actually make a comment on the subject matter without drooling? For example:
>> Is it really too “complex” to figure out that taking vast amounts of land off the market will make the price of the remaining land far more expensive? <<
Comment: Florida has made a business of massive land grabs; the latest to fall is an 8-1/2 square mile area west of Miami that’s a boondoggle for strip miners. Both the mega-farmers (selling krappy land at inflated values to the State and Federal Gumm’nt) and the land developers (less supply makes their land worth more) are in hog heaven.
Anybody? Anybody?
Gosh golly wow, haven’t heard about that 8-1/2 square mile boondoggle. Fill us in on how it relates to the current election. :-)
“Anybody sez:
1. Enviro-socialists like Sierra Club, Audubon, ad nauseam are the reason America has no new nuke power plants.
2.France, however gets the vast majority of its electricity from nukes.
3. USA has a huge amount of uranium (the stuff that glows in the dark and makes megawatts in the process).
4. USA also has a dozen working nuclear aircraft carriers while France has only one.
5. Hint: The French nuke carrier doesn’t work quite often.
6. Even the French were smart enough to realize that nuke power plants are good insurance for an emergency.
7. America has a super volcano named Yellowstone Park.
8. Said super volcano erupts about every 600,000 years ago.
9. The last time it erupted the mid west was covered in ash measured in feet of deposited material.
10. After such a disaster, nuke plants will still work, but oil plants will have no supply due to covered roads and rail lines.
Don’t forget the Muslims and their destructive faith/behavior.
Also don’t forget how many nations would like to nuke us into oblivion.
Nukes are good, whether in our arsenal or in our power plants.
SOLUTION: Don’t a Liberal or a RINO.
Enthusiastic comments about Dr. Sowell’s columns indicate the dearth of such concise commentaries on correct and important points.
“Thomas Sowell - Walter Williams ‘08. Or Walter Williams - Thomas Sowell ‘08, for that matter. Either way would be fine by me. In any case my dream ticket. Blacks to the Future! Quite possibly the two most intelligent Americans alive.”
“””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””
Well, they are both very intelligent and I will take my hat off to either one but I don’t know if they are the MOST intelligent Americans alive. What impresses me about both of them is their ability to see reality without a lot of preconceived notions. It is almost as though they see through the eyes of children. It has often seemed to me that a high percentage of adults somehow make the simple things very complicated and at the same time oversimplify what really is complicated. Maybe that is what I am doing with this post, I know what I am trying to say but it seems hard to say it.
Make a list of those politicians who most loudly lament the lack of "affordable housing." Then make a list of those politicians who have most consistently promoted restrictions on the building of housing, under the banner of "open space" laws, "farmland protection" policies, preventing "urban sprawl," and other politically soothing phrases.
Again, do not be surprised at seeing the same folks on both lists.
Yes, the same names will appear on both lists. And, the very people who vote these yokels into office will make those lists, see the same names on the list, and say "so what!"
This, of Mr. Sowell's thoughts: So long as voters prefer heroes and villains to supply and demand, this game will continue to be played. It is not because supply and demand is too "complex" to understand, but because it is not emotionally satisfying.
I had originally thought to argue with Mr. Sowell's use of the word "satisfying" and originally inserted "gratifying". But again, he is correct - the word indeed must be "satifying". Why, say I? Because the voters who voted these "same list" yokels into office are seldom if ever gratified after the campaign "promises". All they get is the satisfaction in the fact they voted in their Punch and Judy "politician".
You make a good point, the people who elect the politicians on both lists are only satisfied that (in their own mind) they won but in reality they and all of us lose.
Dr. Sowell deals in reality.
A politician with good rhetorical skills can create a new Garden of Eden in people's minds, though only in their minds. However, that is sufficient, if that vision or illusion can be kept alive until election day, and its failure to materialize afterwards can be explained away by the obstruction of villains.
So long as the voters buy it, the politicians will keep selling it.
Vote McPain????? You don't want the wrong lizard to win!!!!
I’m wondering if as Dr. Sowell talked about land being taken off the market, Dr. Sowell was composing a soliloquy for the Senate Majority Leader, that scumbag Harry Reid.
Reid and his 4 kids (all lawyers/lobbyists) buy and sell land and other largesse from/to Indian tribes out in Nevada with huge amounts of wampum going into the Reid protectorate pocket.
Maybe you should switch to decaf.
“Tom Sowell is a really cool guy and smart”
QBFimi2 is a piece of drek.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.