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Thomas Sowell Quotes - Page 16

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One of the beauties of an economy coordinated by price movements is that nobody has to understand it in order for it to work.

One of the beauties of an economy coordinated by price movements is that nobody has to understand it in order for it to work.

Order, Movement, Economy

Having spent years ruining the housing markets with their interference, leading to a housing meltdown that has taken the whole economy down with it, politicians have now moved on into micro-managing automobile companies and medical care. They are not going to stop unless they get stopped. And that is not going to happen until the voters recognize the fact that political rhetoric is no substitute for competence.

Taken, Years, Political

Although I am ready to defend what I have said, many people expect me to defend what others have attributed to me.

People, Said, Ready

"Random Thoughts". townhall.com. September 03, 2007.

Cheap medical care is one of the most expensive things there is. So long as politicians can create the illusion of something for nothing, that gets them votes, which is what it is all about, as far as they are concerned.

Long, Political, Care

In politics, throwing the taxpayers' money at disasters is supposed to show your compassion. But robbing Peter to pay Paul is not compassion. It is politics.

Compassion, Pay, Disaster

Thomas Sowell (2013). “Ever Wonder Why?: and Other Controversial Essays”, p.170, Hoover Press

In medicine, it has long been recognized that even a quack remedy that is harmless in itself can be fatal when it substitutes for an effective medication or treatment. The time is overdue for that same recognition to apply to politics.

Medicine, Long, Political

"Old rhetoric in new times" by Thomas Sowell, townhall.com. August 26, 2003.

Much of what sophisticates loftily refer to as the "complexityof the real world is in fact the inconsistency in their own minds.

Real, Mind, Society

Thomas Sowell (1993). “Is Reality Optional?: And Other Essays”, Hoover Inst Press

What does 'economic justice' mean, except that you want something that someone else produced, without having to produce anything yourself in return?

Mean, Want Something, Justice

Do countries with strong gun control laws have lower murder rates? Only if you cherry-pick the data.

Country, Strong, Gun

As a rule of thumb. Congressional legislation that is bipartisan is usually twice as bad as legislation that is partisan.

Thumbs, Legislation, Partisans

Thomas Sowell (2013). “Ever Wonder Why?: and Other Controversial Essays”, p.334, Hoover Press

Too often what are called "educated" people are simply people who have been sheltered from reality for years in ivy-covered buildings. Those whose whole careers have been spent in ivy-covered buildings, insulated by tenure, can remain adolescents on into their golden retirement years.

Retirement, Reality, Years

"Random Thoughts on the Passing Scene". townhall.com. May 05, 2007.

Whenever someone refers to me as someone "who happens to be black," I wonder if they realize that both my parents are black. If I had turned out to be Scandinavian or Chinese, people would have wondered what was going on.

People, Diversity, Parent

Thomas Sowell (1993). “Is Reality Optional?: And Other Essays”, Hoover Inst Press

The fact that the market is not doing what we wish it would do is no reason to automatically assume that the government would do better.

Government, Wish, Facts

"A 'Stimulus Package'?" by Thomas Sowell, www.realclearpolitics.com. January 29, 2008.

No one pushed harder than Congressman Barney Frank to force banks and other financial institutions to reduce their mortgage lending standards, in order to meet government-set goals for more home ownership. Those lower mortgage lending standards are at the heart of the increased riskiness of the mortgage market and of the collapse of Wall Street securities based on those risky mortgages.

Wall, Home, Heart

Thomas Sowell (2011). “Dismantling America and Other Controversial Essays (Large Print 16pt)”, p.42, ReadHowYouWant.com

Egalitarians create the most dangerous inequality of all - inequality of power. Allowing politicians to determine what all other human beings will be allowed to earn is one of the most reckless gambles imaginable. Like the income tax, it may start off being applied only to the rich but it will inevitably reach us all.

Income, May, Rich

Thomas Sowell (2013). “Ever Wonder Why?: and Other Controversial Essays”, p.332, Hoover Press

Most Americans living below the official poverty line own a car or truck - and government entitlement programs seldom provide cars and trucks. Most people living below the official poverty line also have air conditioning, color television, and a microwave oven - and these too are not usually handed out by government entitlement programs. Cell phones and other electronic devices are by no means unheard of in low-income neighborhoods, where children would supposedly go hungry if there were no school-lunch programs. In reality, low-income people are overweight more often than other Americans.

Children, School, Mean

"Dependency and Votes" by Thomas Sowell, www.nationalreview.com. May 24, 2011.

Barack Obama's vision of America is one in which a President of the United States can fire the head of General Motors, tell banks how to bank, control the medical system and take charge of all sorts of other activities for which neither he nor other politicians have any expertise or experience.

Fire, America, Vision

After political crusades for 'affordable housing' ended up ruining the housing market and much of the economy with it, many of the same politicians are now carrying on a crusade for 'affordable health care.' But what you can afford has absolutely nothing to do with the cost of producing anything. Refusing to pay those costs means that you are just not going to continue getting the same quantity and quality - regardless of what any politician says or how well he says it.

Mean, Political, Quality

To say the Constitution is living is to say that it's dead.

Constitution

Young people in general - and young women in particular - need to understand that they cannot retrieve in their forties the opportunities they threw away in their twenties.

Opportunity, People, Age

The government is now in a position to do what Franklin D. Roosevelt did during the Great Depression of the 1930s - use a crisis of the times to create new institutions that will last for generations. To this day, we are still subsidizing millionaires in agriculture because farmers were having a tough time in the 1930s.

Agriculture, Government, Tough Times

Economics is concerned with what emerges, not what anyone intended.

Economics, Concerned

Thomas Sowell (2010). “Basic Economics 4th Ed: A Common Sense Guide to the Economy”, p.68, Basic Books

Fairness' is one of the great mantras of the left. Since everyone has his own definition of fairness, that word is a blank check for the expansion of government power. What fairness means in practice is that third parties -- busybodies -- can prevent mutual accommodations by others.

Party, Mean, Equality

Thomas Sowell (2013). “Ever Wonder Why?: and Other Controversial Essays”, p.225, Hoover Press

If facts, logic, and scientific procedures are all just arbitrarily "socially constructed" notions, then all that is left is consensus--more specifically peer consensus, the kind of consensus that matters to adolescents or to many among the intelligentsia.

Peers, Matter, Facts

Whenever people talk glibly of a need to achieve educational "excellence," I think of what an improvement it would be if our public schools could just achieve mediocrity.

Educational, School, Thinking

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