I completed my reading assignment from Jim Bacon and wrote my response for a Virginia perspective as installments.
So, here is a reading assignment – an economics book without math. Piece of cake.
“Basic Economics, A Citizen’s Guide to the Economy”, Thomas Sowell, published in 2000.
Consider to what degree Virginia’s public policy issues are based on economics and what that suggests for solutions that work.
(comments below)
(comments below)
J.A. Bowden,
Actually, your assignment came from none other than E.M. Risse. Bacon was on vacation at the time.
Can we get the book from Amazon? I know him as a columnist and can’t say I like his ideas. Maybe his book is different.
Peter Galuszka
Sowell is as conservative as they come, though he claims not, so some of his ideas may be hard to swallow for some people. Regardless of how you feel about his ideas, you have to admire ho they are expressed. But his economic ideas are dead on target because they come from personal experience and academic training.
I particularly like his explanations of how short term plans lead to unexpected long term results.
RH
PG: My error on the former assignment.
I’m sure it is on Amazon or B&N or Borders.
Sowell’s PhD in Econ isn’t political. If it were he would BS he would espouse Marxist economics.
$8 at Amazon… ordered… a couple more at that price (plus $4 SHIP).
I have the book on audio – it’s available via iTunes. I listen to it on my iPod.
What would be especially interesting would be the comparison of Sowell (Basic Economics) and Reich (Supercapitalism).
Sowell grew up in North Carolina, moved to Harlem, dropped out of high school and joined the Marines. I get the impression that he was as poor as you can be growing up. He is a staunch conservative.
Reich was born in Scranton, PA but grew up in a rural area of New York state. His parents owned retail stores. While I don’t know if he would have considered himself wealthy as a child he wasn’t poor either. He is a staunch liberal (You never hear of “staunch liberals”, only “staunch conservatives” – I wonder why).
Peter – If you don’t like Sowell you won’t like his books. Sowell is an economist, Reich is (at his heart) a politician.
Sowell has a lot of great quotes. Some examples:
“Most people who read The Communist Manifesto probably have no idea that it was written by a couple of young men who had never worked a day in their lives, and who nevertheless spoke boldly in the name of ‘the workers’.”
“If you have always believed that everyone should play by the same rules and be judged by the same standards, that would have gotten you labeled a radical 60 years ago, a liberal 30 years ago, and a racist today.”
Note: Sowell is an African – American.
And … for Jim Bacon’s amusement:
“The first lesson of economics is scarcity: There is never enough of anything to satisfy all those who want it. The first lesson of politics is to disregard the first lesson of economics.”.
Of course, Dr. Sowell’s lesson is a scarcity of everything – not just congested roads.
Finally, my personal favorite:
“One of the sad signs of our times is that we have demonized those who produce, subsidized those who refuse to produce, and canonized those who complain”.
Dr. Sowell is well known for his insistence on empirical data rather than unsupported theory.
OK Groveton,
You’ve convinced me. I am going to meet the challenge. Although I’ll have to go to Amazon because book stores in Richmond suck.
Peter Galuszka
I haven’t read Sowell’s “Basic Economics,” but I’ve read all three of his books in the “Race & Culture” trilogy, in which he systematically explores the impact of the cultural attributes of different nationalities/ethnic groups on their economic success. Much of what I write on that topic reflects his thinking.
IMHO, Sowell is one of the most brilliant thinkers about economics and sociology at work today. While many pigeonhole him as a “conservative black economist,” I suspect that his work will transcend such narrow categorization.
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