On Apr 8, 1:42*pm, Mason C wrote:
On Tue, 7 Apr 2009 07:00:28 -0700 (PDT), wrote:
Random thoughts on the passing scene:

http://townhall.com/Columnists/ThomasSowell/

Sowell is a senior fellow of the Hoover Institution at Stanford University which
is a well-known Republican conservative retreat for political refugees from the
Nixon and Bush administations.

I am so old that I can remember when music was musical.

He was born June 30, 1930, so has no memory of the Great Depression.
This is a deciding factor in the thinking of many economists. *They cannot
know the state of mind of the people and its effects on the economy.



Now that the federal government says that it will stand behind the
warranties on General Motors' automobiles, does that make you more
likely or less likely to buy a car from GM? If you were a rising young
executive with a promising future, would you be more likely or less
likely to go to work for a company where politicians can fire you?

Rising young executives are not fired by politicians: they are promoted
when the CEO is fired.



We have become such suckers for words that politicians can spend our
tax money like a drunken sailor, provided they call it "investment."
At least the drunken sailor is spending his own money but people look
down on him because he doesn't call it "investment."

The failure of budgets to distinguish between expenses and investments is
a serious flaw. *Investments cost nothing because they leave behind an
asset worth as much or more than their cost.



Barack Obama seems determined to repeat every disastrous mistake of
the 1930s, at home and abroad. He has already repeated Herbert
Hoover's policy of raising taxes on high income earners, FDR's policy
of trying to micro-manage the economy and Neville Chamberlain's policy
of seeking dialogues with hostile nations while downplaying the
dangers they represent.

What "disastrous mistsake"? *Ending the Bush tax cut for the rich will
only return that tax to less than it was under Reagan. *Calling it "raising
taxes" is deliberately misleading.



We seem to be moving steadily in the direction of a society where no
one is responsible for what he himself did but we are all responsible
for what somebody else did, either in the present or in the past.

The famous editorial cartoonist Herblock could write as well as draw.
In one of his books, he said something like: "You too can have the
soothing feeling of nature's own baby-soft wool being pulled gently
over your resting eyes." I think of that every time I see Barack Obama
talking.

Obama has been more open than any President in my long memory.
What in the world is Sowell thinking of?



It has long been said that uncertainty is the hardest thing for a
market to adjust to. No one can generate uncertainty as much as the
government, which can change the rules in midstream or come out with
some new bright idea at any time, as the current administration has
already demonstrated.

Surely "new bright idea" is not a bad thing. * We voted for much needed
new bright ideas -- change.



We have now reached the truly dangerous point where we cannot even be
warned about the lethal, fanatical and suicidal hatred of our society
by Islamic extremists, because to do so would be politically incorrect
and, in some European countries, would be a violation of the law
against inciting hostility to groups.

Sowell is absolutely right: this is indeed a problem, especially in Europe. *
A serious problem that we can only hope the American melting pot
will handle in America.



Perhaps the scariest aspect of our times is how many people think in
talking points, rather than in terms of real world consequences.

Such as "the war against terror" -- misleading talking point, meaningless..



Barack Obama's favorable reception during his tour in Europe may be
the most enthusiastic international acclaim for a democratic
government leader since Neville Chamberlain returned from Munich in
1938, proclaiming "peace in our time."

What's wrong with an enthusiastic reception after the Bush years of
stupidity?

What is the parallel Sowell is drawing? *Chamberlain was a fool but
his foolishness did buy time for England to prepare for war. *There is
no relationship to Obama's visit to Europe. *Sowell is a conservative who
is desperate for a whining point.



How a man who holds the entire population of a country as his
prisoners, and punishes the families of those who escape, can be
admired by people who call themselves liberals is one of the many
wonders of the human mind's ability to rationalize. Yet such is the
case with Fidel Castro.

Reagan talked to Communists leaders. *Reagan communicated. *The
conservatives say he defeated the USSR. *Opening communication to
Cuba is the best way to hasten the end of that regime.



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

Economic justice means equal opportunity and not excessive inequality.
Inequality tends to grow until the tumbrils roll and the guillotine drops..
Religions, such as that taught by the Bible, advocate ways of adjusting
inequality. *The progressive income tax is one such modern tool.



Perhaps the way President Obama will reduce the deficit is by making
more presidential appointments of people who will pay the back taxes
they owe, in order to get confirmed by the Senate.

Oh, well, it's hard to find perfect people. *Silly remark, that.



Liberals seem to think that they are doing lagging groups a favor by
making excuses for counterproductive and self-destructive behavior.
The poor do not need press agents. They need the truth. No one ever
said, "Press agents will make you free."

True. *So. *What is to be done? *Constructive ideas, please.



If I were Secretary of the Treasury Timothy Geithner, I would not sign
any long-term lease on a home in Washington.

No political appointee has a long-term lease, nor should have.
What's Sowel's point regarding Geithner? *Sowell is just sniping from
long distance.



Socialists believe in government ownership of the means of production.
Fascists believed in government control of privately owned businesses,
which is much more the style of this government. That way, politicians
can intervene whenever they feel like it and then, when their
interventions turn out badly, summon executives from the private
sector before Congress and denounce them on nationwide television.

"Fascist" is a pet swear-word of conservatives. *It connotes Hitler and Nazis
and the holocaust. *Its malicious use reveals the depth to which conservatism
has fallen.

Oh my. Your Liberal mind must have sucumbed to alzheimers since Bush
I and Bush II.

Mason Clark

LOL!!!
Ja, nur liberalen faschismus revolution uber alles!

Some useful idiots remain idiots all of their lives.

"The first book that got me interested in political issues was Actions
and Passions by Max Lerner, which I read at age 19. It was a
collection of his newspaper columns, none of which I remember today
and all of which were vintage liberalism, which even Max Lerner
himself apparently had second thoughts about in his later years." -
Thomas Sowell

"The writings of Karl Marx-- especially The Communist Manifesto-- had
the longest lasting effect on me as a young man and led me to become
and remain a Marxist throughout my twenties. I wouldn't recommend The
Communist Manifesto today either, except as an example of a
masterpiece of propaganda." - Thomas Sowell

http://www.tsowell.com
http://townhall.com/Columnists/ThomasSowell/