Saturday, January 09, 2010

Thomas Sowell on "Intellectuals and Society"

Chapter 1. Thomas Sowell introduces his new book, "Intellectuals and Society," and expounds on what he calls “the fatal misstep of intellectuals.”

Chapter 2. Thomas Sowell offers examples of why intellectuals are so often wrong about economics.

Chapter 3. What is the vision to which contemporary intellectuals subscribe? Thomas Sowell responds.

Chapter 4. Thomas Sowell reasons that intellectuals certainly can renounce war, “and that does not stop your neighbor from building up the biggest army in the world and coming in and killing you.”

Chapter 5. Thomas Sowell explains how the demand for public intellectuals is largely manufactured by the public intellectuals themselves.

5 Comments:

At 1/09/2010 12:16 PM, Blogger Matt said...

The Sage!
Thanks for sharing, Mark.

 
At 1/09/2010 4:41 PM, Anonymous Benny "Tell It LIke It Is Man" Cole said...

You can also build a huge military, tax yourself to death when facing no real military enemies.

Every federal bureaucracy wants to grow and thrive--and they dream up reasons for doing so,
That's how we end up with a huge Department of Agriculture 80 years after the Dust Bowl. $100 billion budget and we are a nation of fatties. $60 billion a year in direct subsidies to farmers. It is a massive bailout, every year, dwarfing Detroit's one-time money grab. Gee, do you suppose Sowell ever mentions that?

The Defense Department? Permanently mobilized to fight two wars simultaneously, and keep global shipping lanes open. Yeah, so many nations want to close the shipping lanes. This is the number: 0.

Odd, how "conservatives" never mention these huge swipes of taxpayer money.

These are agencies that want your money, that you earned so they can have salaries and pensions--often after a career of just 20 years.

No one in the private sector gets squat after 20 years.

Fat and ossified lard and patronage.

 
At 1/09/2010 5:23 PM, Anonymous Johnny10 said...

Is this the same guy who appeared at one of the Milton Friedman´s original Free to Choose tv series? He was discusing there about blacks and welfare state as I remember. I remember how awesome he was...

 
At 1/09/2010 7:07 PM, Blogger PeakTrader said...

The California budget crisis resulted in tax hikes in the middle of a deep recession. The sales tax was increased to 9.75%; vehicle registration fees, tolls, rapid transit fares, etc. all rose sharply.

On the federal level, the government has squandered a lot of money. Consequently, it seems, the IRS has become more aggressive collecting taxes. Also, I heard the Senate health care bill is a stealth tax hike, because taxes, from households and firms, would begin in 2010, and coverage would begin in 2013 or later. Moreover, it seems likely the Bush tax cuts will expire next year to also help reduce the budget deficit.

U.S. households are forced to improve their balance sheets the hard way, if they have a job. There's a lot of ignorance, and inexperience, and intellectuals.

 
At 1/09/2010 10:18 PM, Blogger W.E. Heasley said...

Bought the book last week and its great! Milton Friedman would be proud.

 

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