You learn more from Thomas Sowell by accident than from others by design.

My family still prospered in the midst of segregation in Houston, Texas in the 50's-60's, we had separate bathrooms, water fountains, yet we owned a three bedroom home, had outstanding schools, black business flourished. When LBJ so-called 'War on Poverty' went into effect, black business dwindled and our best teachers were sent to other school districts that were mostly white. Liberals sabotaged the upward mobility of blacks, I witnessed it first-hand. Right On Sowell!!!

Wealth, Poverty, and Politics by Thomas Sowell has got to be one of the best books I've read.

I can't get enough of Thomas Sowell: thanks for posting!

Read, read, read, read Dr. Sowell. Disagree with him, attack his positions, formulate your personal philosophy against him. My favorite aspect of Dr. Sowell's work is that it is grounded in logic and backed by evidence. Weigh his logic, weigh his evidence, confirm it or cast contrary evidence it. All the while you will learn how to think, how to write, how to own an opinion and be proud of it.

Imagine how much greater this country could be if we had a thousand more Thomas Sowells...

I'm willing to bet that 4 out of 5 black people don't even know who Thomas Sowell is. And that's woefully unfortunate.

It is also worth noting that 1960 was only 15 years after WWII and seven years after Korea. Most single-parent homes in the post-war era were so because the father was killed in combat, not because of illegitimacy.

He should voice Darth Vader. "Luke, get a job and stop blowing things up!"

The officially stated goal of the War on Poverty was to reduce dependency on government. 50 years later. How did that work out?

THIS IS A MAN OF VISION, SADLY A RARE ATTRIBUTE TODAY.

Thomas Sowell conversations should be mandatory in schools and colleges.

Someone put a mic in Sowells hand so he can drop it after he's done talking.

Everyone in the USA should watch this. Thomas Sowell is a National Treasure.

This guy is great. He's using common sense mixed with little known facts (that should be widely known) instead of emotion. Of course, because of that he's called Uncle Tom all the time by the left.

Wow this is outstanding information.

Just finished "The quest for cosmic justice" and it was fantastic. Highly recommended. I've read most of Sowell's books and he has a wonderful way of writing rigorously without sounding pretentious.

this guy used to be a Marxist until he saw the light. we need more people like Sowell

Brilliant needs to be heard daily, especially in the black community...

Why am I just now finding this Mr. Thomas Sowell? He is remarkable!

You learn more in ten minutes from Thomas Sowell than ten days from Al Sharpton.

Thanks, LibertyPen for distilling this interview so well. I find the last point in this segment especially potent. He probably took the best available example from an allegorical standpoint, from what I can recall of inwardly collapsed insurgencies. It's a shame there doesn't seem to be anyone else with his level of basic economic nuance and grounded philosophical brilliance. I'm afraid that when he's gone we will never see another Thomas Sowell.

Scholarly brilliant interview! Love this man's writings and interviews. He has many great books on varied subjects!

Thomas sowell is a legend...

Can't believe I have never heard of this gentleman !

The Ultimate SJW head-explosion video

Thomas Sowell is fucking intellectual juggernaut.

Man! I'd never heard of Professor Thomas Sowell before watching this video. His intellect and ability to correctly analyze and suggest solutions for many of our Country's problems today is amazing! I wish that I had Professors of that quality!

This Gentleman is a National Treasure!

To me, this is such an xample of the Unique Principle postulate of: At the xtremes yin becomes yang, yang becomes yin. We are finite with walls bearing down on us from the heavens through the 2 forces of yin/yang. Centering is key, and the answer, therefore.

Unbelievable wisdom here...

Such an intellect! His words ring ever so true with today’s events.

I've seen many interviews with this same interviewer and his greatest tribute is that I don't know his name or his opinions. His sole purpose is to help the guest express themselves.

genius. Absolute genius.

we need to get together & fix our own problems & stop relying on these foxes & wolves

Go watch the movie Shawshank Redemption. Then go watch any prison movie of the late 70's to this present day, and tell me what you see, and just think about Shawshank Redemption Andy started his prison sentence in I think 1947.

I heard Dick Gregory speak when I was in college in the late 70s. He said that when tv became common we were suddenly able to see more abundance in a few minutes of commercials than most will experience in a lifetime. We saw what was not available or common for us. He said prior to experiencing that we knew our neighborhood and most in our neighborhood were of a similar economic level. This is relevant to this discussion.

This is a true gem....

Absolutely fascinating.

amazing man - thank you for posting this

I bow down to Mr. Sowell. What a brilliant mind

I almost always agree with Dr. Sowell, but from family experience, the Czechs did not want their language and culture to be overwhelmed by the Germans. It was a matter of survival.

Mr. Sowell is a American treasure

If you are a black man iiving in a economically depressd neighbourhood, the Trickle Down never trickles that far.

Dr. Sowell is so right about the devastating results we have had under the liberal nanny State policies. He should dedicate a couple of chapters in his new book using PR as a prime example of how the nanny state policies and a totally corrupted government brought the Island to the disastrous socioeconomic conditions they are facing right now, The Island has one of the highest criminal rates in the Nation and a government external debt they will never be able to pay because the working class is moving over to the States.

can you imagine an all black university made up of men/women staff like this? would produce so many great minds instead of the victim mentality of the kids today

He keepin it real right now

Forgive me for my late posts. I had no idea Dr. Sowell was still around.

9:07 Peter is totally enamored: that's the face of a student basking in the sunlight of his teacher. Love it :-) I would assume a similar position around Sowell, perhaps leaning in EVEN MORE (if such a thing were possible XD)

And the problems are affecting across all people. Not just any particular group.

I strongly believe in politicians keeping the majority of people in a place where you really need them, this is why everything is political now and no longer with common grounds.

I really wish he went into more detail from the last 30 seconds of the video, is there any more to this?

Can we air drop dvds of this over Chicago?

I think Thomas is an excellent role model for American blacks. A good model for me too (I’m white) but of course I don’t have the perspective that he does with blacks.

He is the smartest person I know.

I’ve never heard of this guy in the media, and we know that is for a reason… He destroys the entire left wing premises.

The reasons underneath. That's what I'm talking about.

The commentary can be said abut my neighbourhood in Mangere Auckland New Zealand when I was 5-10 late 60's and Papatoetoe 10-17 in the 70's. Society changed. Neo-liberalism led to as Thatcher said 'no such thing as society',

imagine how much better our society would be if People of ALL races listened and lived by the ways of basic decency and respect that Thomas Sowell displays? how is this man not in a more prominent role in our eroding society? It's amazing what happens when we remove God from government and society. divorce and lack of family are the direct result of what we see today. people put their selfish ambitions before family, and sustainability for future generations. I used to be an atheist, always trying to justify my disbelief with philosophy and science. There is no reason or explanation for love to exist without god. science can't explain it. If people like Dr. Sowell were listened to, our moral standing and quality of life would improve in America 10 fold.

They also went from fearing being beaten or lynched for doing things like executing their freedom of speech, or being attracted to people outside of their race. If there are no answers to problems and only trade offs is that a better trade-off?

black kids who live in 1 single-parent household has tripled white and Hispanic kids who live in a single-parent household had doubled

Citations?

I am Czech and I dont really get mr. Sowell´s point about our national revival, but i am surprised he did even mention that and that he even knows about it. The thing is - most people here in Czech lands (Bohemia, Moravia and Silesia) were bilingual, no matter if they were czech, german or jewish. Even Franz Kafka did speak czech, through he was german jew. The point was to make czech culture (and economy) competitive with german, which eventually led to improvement of the whole country.

they're not liberals Tom, but otherwise I agree

Although, I never believed one person has all the truths, I Love Thomas Sowell, very intelligent man, but I disagree with the whole welfare done more damage than slavery idea.

He means before the second century, not the first, I presume.

After God made Thomas Sowell he broke the mold. He was probably exhausted! He probably said 'here you go planet earth... its the only one your gonna get, you better listen up!'

“Ahh I didn’t know that” haha

I still don’t see the correlation between welfare state and violence/break down of nucleus family. Can someone please break it down. I struggle this because he always give hard data. I’m just not seeing it for this point. Something. Please explain. Thanks in advance.

my only problem with the remark about single-parent homes, is that this figure rose dramatically for white families as well. and we need to be able to determine as well the effect of the sexual/moral revolution on these numbers. in terms of its relative importance in the black community, sure, I believe the fact that the figure for blacks is at a vast majority of 75%, compared with the figure for whites which is less than half, must have a dramatic effect on the norms of the black community.

Has Jesse Jackson ever had a debate with sowell?

Can someone help understand this subject better? I have questions

Sorry. You fail to mention that the welfare housing policy prevents the father from living in the home. That policy alone discourages mothers from marrying in order to keep receiving benefits. The welfare state is neither liberal or conservative it is “racist” and does not provide a way to move up out of poverty.

I assume he is excluding Jim Crow. But his point is not only a refutation of the Leftists, but of the White Supremecists.

I agree with some of the things he says, but what about the blacks in Tulsa,Oklahoma. They were successful and independent. What happened was that a white mob burned them out.

The one problem I have with Sowel's argument is that he doesn't consider the population increase. It's true what he says about the difference of Black people now and 30 years ago, but you have to consider population increase when you compare now and then.

Which of Sowell's books is he quoting from in this interview?

Has anyone ever heard Thomas Sowell speak on the role that racist FHA loan practices played in increasing white wealth and decreasing Black wealth starting in the 1930's? White wealth building was supported by the U.S government over Blacks. Read more: www.pbs.org/race/000_About/002_04-teachers-07.htm

I grew up in racist Ohio during the 60 and 70'. I was a student at Ohio State University and work part time to help pay my college expenses. I got called "nigga" and "faggot" so many times by white people that it actually became discouraging for me. My firt job was at Mc Donalds, i worked the window and French frys. I always worked the Friday/Sat closing shift. Bigest McDonald's in Columbus Ohio at the time and we closed at 2pm on weekend's. Long story short, Im wallkin down high s t at anout 2:45 am after a busy Friday nite, ive closed and balanced my window and drained and cleaned the French Fry Rack. Its a giant deep fryer. So Im walking home, tired , covered in French fry greese, but happy because i did my job well and management noticed my professional ism and hard work. Im maybe two blocks from Donald land, walkin dont the street still got my uniform on and i see a van approaching. It speeds up pulls right to the curb and just as they pass someone throws a bucket off water on me while everyone in thhe van yells NIGGA NIGGA NIGGA! At first i was angry the quickly very sad thinking to myself "it dosent matter how hard i work or how good a job ive done, there will always be someone wanting to hurt me and impead my attemps to progress because when they see me the first thing they see is my brown skin". Yea, ultimately it is all about self-determination, hard work and beingb the best at what you do but the song never changes, from Macdonald s to Armani, for my time period it was all about my skin. That was the hardest part, always being the only black person inthe room and not goin crazy dealing with all the crazy. For example, if i had a c note for every time some one said to me, " if i wasnt lookin at you by the way you speak id have no idea you were Black". Really, wow what a surprise . Things are better now but lets not pretend that racism does not exist. And even more importantly an education is paramount. Without it, well if you're a Black man you better have some athletic skills or entertainment talent.

Smart man.

Intellectual Titan.

How does the War on Drugs play into this explanation? It seems noticeably absent from his list of things affecting minority communities :-\

More like the Farewell state

with this argument, wouldn’t we expect to see increased single motherhood in countries that have larger social support programs for single moms?? Actually, no. That's not correct

This guy attributes the number of parents in a black home to the welfare state?? He uses 1960-1990 numbers during which time the divorce rate in America doubled (from ~10 in 1000 marriages, to ~21 in 1000 marriages) a factor that isn't political. Also during that time the incarceration rate nearly tripled (from ~110 in 100,000 to ~300 in 100,000 ) a factor placed squarely in the hands of Ronald Regan's republican party. To place the blame for the number of parents in a home on the 'welfare state' is laughable, and a perfect example of how republicans ignore important and pertinent factors to suit there narrative and, on a more individual level, to sell books. I don't know anything about Thomas Sowell, but I can guarantee he makes the majority of his income on book sales. Be right back, checking his bio......yup, stopped counting at 30 books.

Brilliant, what he says r common sense that arrive from evidence based research. Anyone with some sense of scientific education may very well come to conclusion of that flavor. However, they lack courage, hence are coward n timid, so they conform to the status quo. Think about it, is not like the answer he gave are so controversial. Given the concept law of average people would randomly n independently arrived at the same conclusion research or no research. The social science of these sort are numerous so to fact check in today’s media are easier so much so. Public shaming hands down are the most fear of embarrassment, one no need to bring out psychology textbooks or some esoteric definition for it. The definition of Public shaming is self evidence, any possible way to make someone embarrass in public. May result in simple facts to complex elaborate schemes n deception. To that extent if one have follow Dt Sowell career will realize he is not a new face in media. This brave soul I’m sure his humble self will not share my description of brave, some over 40 yrs ago arguing, debating many of the same things on the most poplar prestigious media program. People used to invite him on all kind of program, he of course just so happen believer of facts where u find them. Dr Sowell beliefs do over lap more or less with conservatives. So as Democrats n progressive goes that 💎 can’t be seen or heard. One can imagine numerous congressional hearings where the bus stops regarding policy making. In his eyes 👀 all that effort arguing based on fact findings didn’t make a dent. He is not thin skin, arrogance that his feeling was hurt bc congress legislate policy that oppose his view. Congress did not debunk him not for lack of trying, Man U had the brightest mind of all elites types attempting just that fate. Every single time they failed n most with their tails tuck in between n some humbly so, and others don’t even know what hit them. Seeing, some of those new faces back then, now apparently didnt learn the term facts don’t care about your feelings still apply. In the end so much so to those (many many many)that attempted to public shame dr Sowell end up embarrassing themself. Not bc Sowell attack them personally, not even remotely but with analytical conclusions derived from evident based facts n many from their own liberal researches. One thing about progressive they love research especially evidence based only when yield results that fits their narratives. As debunking goes, the media n their popular democrats narrative got debunk n cont to public shaming Sowell just was not working. But it obvious did if not other wise liberal welfare states would not be more but a lot less. So what happen, well there is no doubt if u have any that the liberal control all three major forms of media, university, television, and Hollywood. So they just ignore him, n him been himself decided to decline pretty much all invitations of public interviews n sorts. Sowell is not vain to have to appear in public or to make a mark of himself. His grievances is on people misquoting his work n many times misquote that have the opposite of his view. Logically realizing these public interviews lack his purpose of providing factual information available to those that matter. In so much so have decisions to legislate better policy. Dr Sowell didn’t gave up, he gave up on public interviews but place more emphasis on writing his books. Printing information especially evidence based research that ends up in periodicals tends to last for a long time. That’s his belief hence books he directed his diligence. Books indeed he wrote many dozens n to anyone that wishes to read result not spun can read about it. Just check out his interviews his very convincing but not forcing at all. His arguments are so powerful in his tone, facial expression, so confident, but why! He just knows fact where ever he finds it, he separate the weeds, the noises, and to him that’s not the difficult part. No hard work can resolve illiteracy when someone don’t want to learn how to read.

Correlation does not equal causation. Because you can cherry pick statistics that sound like they support your ideals, does not make them correct. I hear a bunch of anecdotes, but no real science. You have to understand, this is social science, there are too many variables to make any hard conclusions. That's why it's called a soft science.

Thomas Sowell should run for President! He's awsome! He tells it like it is!

Pick your dates and your context, and you can demonstrate whatever bias you have. From the mid 1970s onward, the neoliberals gained control of the economy and crushed what was left of unions, and labor could no longer make demands based on the increasing productivity of the work-force. Real wages remained flat while productivity and corporate profits climbed. What climbed as well was long-term unemployment and with Bill Clinton administration, NAFTA began the shifting of US production and jobs to foreign locations. Clinton also began the hopeless deprivation of children by ending the ADC (aid to dependent children) that was part of the New Deal and Great Society heritage of the US. LBJ's programs to help the poor were sacrificed to the US aggression in southeast Asia. With Reagan began the bloating of the military budgets and austerity for the domestic side of the budget. Local services, dependent on federal subsidies, yielded those benefits to the arms merchants and war-mongers in a process that has grown worse, more punitive to most Americans, especially blacks to this very day. Prof. Sowell knows all this. He is a tool of the ruling elite.

His arguments seem logically fallacious to me. He only shows correlations without establishing any causal relationships. He obviously has never heard of the lead-crime hypothesis

Love Thomas Sowell. But, I would like to know why Whites must use the term "African-Americans" so much instead of "Blacks?" The Blacks never use it.

I like the part about when he said the policies they in act do not help the people to succeed

Did youtube remove my "like"? I could have sworn I liked this video in the past. I even have it bookmarked and yet when I came back to this video it was not liked? WTF???

Can someone explain or link to a source that explains why the welfare state of the 60's hit blacks harder than whites? I'm sure there were many poor white families too. Shouldn't the percentages be related to the total percentage of whites and blacks? Or was this somehow "customized" for black families?

Wasn't Harlem Jewish at that point?

We have so many great Americans, yet they never run for president.....

"Sowell's critics have argued that he draws causal inferences without rigorous methodology, publishes work that lacks credible sources or omits references entirely, and makes contradictory comments about academia and intellectualism." Pretty much describes this whole video.

So sad that this message doesn't get out to the black community.

Here we have my brother-in-law and all his colleagues PUSHING hard to get Hillary into office. We're screwed on both sides though.. :-(