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.  - Thomas Sowell - Intellectual, economist and Hoover Institute Senior Fellow Thomas Sowell has made many magnificent contributions to the marketplace of ideas to which few others in American history can compare. For example, in his 1981 book, “Knowledge and Decisions,” Sowell made this prescient observation: “Historically, freedom is a rare and tragic thing. It has emerged out of the stalemates of would-be oppressors. Freedom has cost the blood of millions in obscure places and historic sites ranging from Gettysburg to the Gulag Archipelago.”

There is so much to learn from Sowell. A leitmotiv I find in many of his works is his cost-benefit economic paradigm applied to culture and society. Sowell delineates a trenchant critique against self-poverty-generating decisions, some of which include joining a gang, having a baby out of wedlock, getting married before becoming intellectually mature and economically secure, being easily deceived by the rhetoric of poverty pimps and civil-rights charlatans and, most importantly, foolishly thinking someone owes you anything because you don’t have something (or everything). Such approaches the essence of the mind of Thomas Sowell. Full Piece