One of the Clearest Thinking Humans in America...

Thomas Sowell has to be in the top ten. His current column "A Post-Racial President?" continues his record of clear thinking.

Who is Thomas Sowell? He crossed my radar only in the past 6 months or so. Here is his website.

He is an economist, a prolific writer, a professor at Stanford University, and an accomplished photographer. He is also a conservative American who happens to be Black. He is a man worthy of learning from.

Here are some of his accomplishments. This list does little to extol the character of the man. Reading some of his writings will.

CURRICULUM VITA

ADDRESS: The Hoover Institution
Stanford University
Stanford, California 94305
(650) 723-3303

PERSONAL: U.S. Citizen, born June 30, 1930

EDUCATION:
Ph.D. in Economics, University of Chicago, 1968
A.M. in Economics, Columbia University, 1959
A.B. in Economics, magna cum laude, Harvard College, 1958

EXPERIENCE:
Senior Fellow, Hoover Institution, Stanford University, September 1980 - present
Professor of Economics, U.C.L.A., July 1974 - June 1980
Visiting Professor of Economics, Amherst College, September- December 1977
Fellow, Hoover Institution, Stanford University, April- August 1977
Fellow, Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, July 1976 - March 1977
Project Director, The Urban Institute, August 1972 - July 1974
Associate Professor of Economics, U.C.L.A., September 1970 - June 1972
Associate Professor of Economics, Brandeis University, September 1969 - June 1970
Assistant Professor of Economics, Cornell University, September 1965 - June 1969
Economic Analyst, American Telephone & TelegraphCo., June 1964 - August 1965
Lecturer in Economics, Howard University, September 1963 - June 1964
Instructor in Economics, Douglass College, Rutgers University, September 1962 - June 1963
Labor Economist, U.S. Department of Labor, June 1961 - August 1962

PRINCIPAL PUBLICATIONS:
On Classical Economics (Yale University Press, 2006)
Black Rednecks and White Liberals (Encounter Books, 2005)
The Quest for Cosmic Justice (Free Press,1999)
Conquests and Cultures (Basic Books, 1998)
Migrations and Cultures (Basic Books, 1996)
The Vision of the Anointed (Basic Books, 1995)
Race and Culture: A World View ( Basic Books,1994 )
A Conflict of Visions (William Morrow, 1987)
Ethnic America (Basic Books, 1981)
Knowledge and Decisions (Basic Books, 1980)
Say's Law: An Historical Analysis (Princeton University Press, 1972)

I'm more confused than usual...

The headline reads "Treasury, Fed to Unveil Major Lending Program...aimed at making it easier for people to borrow money."

I thought the primary cause of our self-proclaimed economic meltdown was because we made it too easy for people to borrow money - people who really couldn't afford to borrow.

Will someone with some economic talent in my family or from among my two or three friends (pretty much the only ones who might occasionally read this blog) explain the wisdom of this policy?

Let me guess first. I do realize economics, particularly, the concept of value, credit, and prosperity, is an illusion. Yes, Dr. Nicholas (my very competent college economics professor), economics is an art and not a science. I'd go one step further, professor - economics is a shell game. Money, err, CREDIT gets shifted around in a way that no one really knows who owes what to whom. I'm suspecting even the mover of the shells has lost track.

The purpose in all this?

To maintain the illusion of value, while the real value of value gradually ebbs away as the nation becomes less and less productive and more and more obsessed with consumption. To the best illusionist goes the spoils.

It will be interesting to see how much longer that macro-economic philosphy will well-serve the minions.

Your helpful explanations are sincerely hungered for.

Sincerely,
A confused child of the system.