Thomas Sowell ( 10 of 95 )
What is history but the story of how politicians have squandered the blood and treasure of the human race.
What is history but the story of how politicians have squandered the blood and treasure of the human race.
Prices are important not because money is considered paramount but because prices are a fast and effective conveyor of information read more
Prices are important not because money is considered paramount but because prices are a fast and effective conveyor of information through a vast society in which fragmented knowledge must be coordinated.
The most fundamental fact about the ideas of the political left is that they do not work. Therefore we should read more
The most fundamental fact about the ideas of the political left is that they do not work. Therefore we should not be surprised to find the left concentrated in institutions where ideas do not have to work in order to survive.
One of the peculiarities of the American Revolution was that its leaders pinned their hopes on the organization of decision-making read more
One of the peculiarities of the American Revolution was that its leaders pinned their hopes on the organization of decision-making units, the structuring of their incentives, and the counterbalancing of the units against one another, rather than on the more usual (and more exciting) principle of substituting "the good guys" for "the bad guys.".
Implicit in the activist conception of government is the assumption that you can take the good things in a complex read more
Implicit in the activist conception of government is the assumption that you can take the good things in a complex system for granted, and just improve the things that are not so good. What is lacking in this conception is any sense that a society, an institution, or even a single human being, is an intricate system of fragile inter-relationships, whose complexities are little understood and easily destabilized.
It is amazing how many of those who consider themselves "thinking people" respond automatically to words the way Pavlov's dog read more
It is amazing how many of those who consider themselves "thinking people" respond automatically to words the way Pavlov's dog was conditioned to respond to certain sounds.
American prosperity and American free enterprise are both highly unusual in the world, and we should not overlook the possibility read more
American prosperity and American free enterprise are both highly unusual in the world, and we should not overlook the possibility that the two are connected.
With various people complaining about "price gouging... economist Walter Williams has coined a new term: "Tax gouging." But government is read more
With various people complaining about "price gouging... economist Walter Williams has coined a new term: "Tax gouging." But government is never accused of either "greed" or "gouging" — not even when they bulldoze people's homes in order to turn the land over to businesses that will pay more taxes.
The desire of businessmen for profits is what drives prices down unless forcibly prevented from engaging in price competition, usually read more
The desire of businessmen for profits is what drives prices down unless forcibly prevented from engaging in price competition, usually by governmental activity.
Nothing as mundane as mere evidence can be allowed to threaten a vision so deeply satisfying.
Nothing as mundane as mere evidence can be allowed to threaten a vision so deeply satisfying.
