Quote of the day - Thomas Sowell - health care costs

Here is a math problem for you: Assume that the legislation establishing government control of medical care is passed and that it "brings down the cost of medical care." You pay $500 a year less for your medical care, but the new costs put on employers is passed on to consumers, so that you pay $300 a year more for groceries and $200 a year more for gasoline, while the new mandates put on insurance companies raise your premiums by $300 a year, how much money have you saved?

Thomas Sowell

Quote of the day - Thomas Sowell

Most of the problems of this country are not nearly as bad as the "solutions" -- especially the solutions that politicians come up with during election years.

Thomas Sowell

Quote of the day - Thomas Sowell [Oliver Wendell Holmes] ("change")

The great Supreme Court justice Oliver Wendell Holmes said that a good catchword could stop people from thinking for 50 years. The big catchword this election year is "change"-- and it has already stopped many people's thinking in its tracks.

Thomas Sowell

Quote of the day - Thomas Sowell [Barack Hussein Obama]

While Hillary Clinton tells lies, Barack Obama is himself a lie. That is becoming painfully apparent with each new revelation of how drastically his carefully crafted image this election year contrasts with what he has actually been saying and doing for many years.

Thomas Sowell

Quote of the day - Thomas Sowell

The next time somebody in the media denies that there is media bias, ask how they explain the fact that there are at least a hundred stories about the shrinking arctic ice cap for every one about the expanding antarctic ice cap, which has now grown to record size.

Thomas Sowell

Thomas Sowell - William Buckley and the New Media

I and others have written a great deal about William Buckley since his death more than a week ago. Much more needs to be written, as this important figure played a pivotal role in modern conservative thought. Thomas Sowell contributes to this discussion as he notes how differently certain incidents might have ended up had the media's role been different. With regard to Vietnam's Tet Offensive:

There was a time when Walter Cronkite's version of what was happening in Vietnam was enough to force a change in policy more disastrous than the Communist offensive which Cronkite depicted as a big loss to American military forces, when in fact the American military inflicted a crushing defeat on the Communist guerrillas.

Imagine how differently that war might have turned out -- how many millions of people in Southeast Asia might not have been slaughtered by Communist governments there -- if there had been a sizable contingent of conservative journalists to tell a very different story from that told by Walter Cronkite and the liberal media.

Modern conservatives are only now learning and discussing how wrong Cronkite was.
Sowell notes that the reverse holds true with regard to modern events that the MSM/DNC was unable to control:

By the same token, think how successful Cronkite's successor, Dan Rather, might have been with his fake documents about President Bush's National Guard service, broadcast on the eve of the 2004 elections, if the fraud had not been exposed immediately by conservatives on the Internet, on talk radio, and in newspapers.

We owe a debt not only to Buckley, but to the modern pioneers of the alternative media, such as Rush Limbaugh and Matt Drudge. As I wrote almost 2 weeks ago:

Buckley was a throwback to the era when the MSM/DNC enjoyed a virtual monopoly on information. I first discovered Buckley in the early 1980's. At that time, I was treated to an almost non-stop barrage of twisted news presentations, distorted facts, repeats of Democrat talking points, etc. from the nightly news and the pages of newspapers. Once a week, William Buckley (and a very few others) would have one chance to rebut the entire MSM/DNC in the confined space of an opinion column on the editorial page of some newspapers. Even though it was hardly a fair fight, Buckley's (and others') few inches of weekly space was more than a match for the daily rants of the NYT, AP, WaPo, John Chancellor, Walter Cronkite, etc. Buckley kept the conservative light glowing until the New Media could begin fanning the flames at the end of the 1980's.

Conservatives born after 1975 cannot fully appreciate what it was like to live in the era before the New Media existed. Buckley was one voice that helped make that era bearable.

The MSM/DNC still lies and is more leftwing now than ever before, but at least must endure real competition.

Quote of the day - Thomas Sowell [Global warming]

It has almost become something of a joke when some "global warming" conference has to be cancelled because of a snowstorm or bitterly cold weather.

Thomas Sowell

Quote of the day - Thomas Sowell [campaign finance reform]

Now that Congress has violated the First Amendment by restricting free speech with "campaign finance reform" laws, in the name of getting the influence of money out of politics, have you noticed any less influence of money in politics?

Thomas Sowell - December 2007

Quote of the day - Thomas Sowell [Obama]

By far the best presentation as a candidate, among all the candidates in both parties, is that of Barack Obama. But if he actually believes even half of the irresponsible nonsense he talks, he would be an utter disaster in the White House.

Thomas Sowell - 1-8-08

Quote of the day - Thomas Sowell

Military conscription is long gone. But taxpayers are still being conscripted to play Santa Claus.

Thomas Sowell

Quote of the day - Thomas Sowell [tooth fairy]

You may scoff at the Tooth Fairy if you like. But the Tooth Fairy's approach has gotten more politicians elected than any economist's analysis.

Thomas Sowell

tooth fairy

Quote of the day - Thomas Sowell

The last time I saw a Republican express outrage was 1991, when Clarence Thomas told the Senators what he thought of the smear tactics used against him. Before that, it was Ronald Reagan saying, "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!" Before that, it was probably Teddy Roosevelt.

Thomas Sowell

Quote of the day - Thomas Sowell

The unraveling Duke "rape" case should be a wake-up call, both for blacks and for liberals, on how easy it is for their emotions to be manipulated by even a third-rate demagogue with a flimsy fraud. The time is long overdue for some of those who consider themselves "thinking people" to start doing some thinking.

Thomas Sowell

Quote of the day - Thomas Sowell

Wise people created civilization over the centuries and clever people are dismantling it today. You can see it happening just by channel surfing on TV or hear it in rap music or read it in the pompous nonsense of academics and judges.

Thomas Sowell

Thomas Sowell - circa 1980 h/t crainium . net

Quote of the day - Thomas Sowell

It is not just in Iraq that the political left has an investment in failure. Domestically as well as internationally, the left has long had a vested interest in poverty and social malaise.

Thomas Sowell

Quote of the day - Thomas Sowell

Some of the biggest cases of mistaken identity are among intellectuals who have trouble remembering that they are not God.

Thomas Sowell

Quote of the day - Thomas Sowell

A reader sent the following message, quoting his nephew: "Calling an illegal alien an 'undocumented worker' is like calling a drug dealer an 'unlicensed pharmacist.'"

Thomas Sowell

Quote of the day - Thomas Sowell

Too many people in positions of responsibility act as if these are just positions of opportunity -- for themselves. The ones who simply steal money probably do less harm than teachers who propagandize their students, media who slant the news or politicians who sell out their country's interests in order to get re-elected.

Thomas Sowell

Quote of the day - Thomas Sowell

Judging by the polls, Republican voters' memories do not seem to be as short as Senator John McCain may have thought. Judging by press coverage, the media's memory does not seem to have been as long as he may have thought when he played to that gallery.

Thomas Sowell

Quote of the day - Thomas Sowell [John Edwards]

Edwards' specialty was suing when babies were born with brain defects, which he — like other lawyers cashing in on junk science and gullible juries — blamed on the failure of doctors to have had those babies delivered by Caesarian section.

Since then, Caesarian operations have increased greatly, but without reducing those birth defects that Edwards and others had blamed on a lack of Caesarian deliveries. Studies validated by leading medical authorities, here and overseas, have found no such link between birth defects and a lack of Caesarian births.

Meanwhile, lawyers like John Edwards could laugh all the way to the bank.

Like so many liberals who talk about "bringing down the cost of health care," John Edwards has in fact been driving up the cost of medical treatment. "Defensive medicine," such as unnecessary Caesarian operations, is not cheap. Defensive medicine protects doctors from slick lawyers far more than it protects patients.

Thomas Sowell