Unknown Unknowns (Thomas Sowell)

Creators Syndicate ^ | July 12, 2011 | Thomas Sowell

[jazusamo]

*PING*
Thomas Sowell

Recent columns
Politics Versus Reality: Part II
Politics Versus Reality
Careless Voters Cast Doubts on U.S. Future

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[Finny]

Thanks for the ping. Envy is SUCH an evil moral failing, and so many Americans don't even recognize it as a failing. Envy, politics based on and catering to envy, is a driving force behind these Unknown Unknowns.

[updatedscreenname]

>We had no clue, for example, when dawn broke on September >11, 2001, that somebody was going to fly two commercial >airliners into the World Trade Center that day.

Depends on the definition of ‘we’

[Thom Pain]

Does anyone know of a description/mapping that illustrates what happens to a dollar that remains in the economy (someone earns a dollar, spends it on an item/service he deems valuable to his needs/wants coupled with the multiplier effect that comes from the fact that he himself had to have produced an item/service worth more than zero to earn his dollar) vs a dollar that is taken out of the economy via taxes/fees to provide revenue to the gov't. I feel frustrated that I can't credibly explain this to my idiot lib acquaintances. I think it's crucial to be able to document and quantify the differences and blow Keynesian crappola out of the water (hopefully for good).

I'm so disappointed that the GOP seems unable/unwilling to articulate why the conservative policies work. (I was impressed by the videos with the stacks of pennies on the table and the 1/4 cent that was the cuts. Also the video called "Eat the Rich" or something like that.)

[smoothsailing]

Good article by Dr. Sowell (as always!)

I just wish he would have mentioned some of the names of these good foreign investments American money was going into. Come on, Thomas, give me a hint! :)

[drbuzzard]

Sowell is always worth the read.

[TheOldLady]

Dr. Sowell is brilliant. Bump!

[MrB]

I feel frustrated that I can't credibly explain this to my idiot lib acquaintances.

Read Sowell's econ books, then you'll be able to explain it to a 5 yr old, or someone, say a lib, with a 5 yr old mentality.

[Da Bilge Troll]

I just use the swimming pool metaphore.

[jazusamo]

The pennies thing was a real eye opener that most anyone could understand.

I believe the most ironic thing is the 1/4 cent and how all Dems and even some Repubs fight like caged animals to prevent those measly cuts.

[mc5cents]

Depends on the definition of ‘we’

What are you saying, that there were people in power in this country that knew what was going to happen and did nothing about it? Is that it? Please explain.

[jazusamo]

Please bump the Freepathon or click above and donate or become a monthly donor!

[GeronL]

Envy is greed.

We should be more willing to call leftists greedy to their faces.

[GeronL]

If the Clinton admin hadn’t built a wall to prevent the FBI and CIA from sharing information they may well have been able to add 2+2 and get a 4.

But the wall prevented the 2 cents of the CIA and the 2 cents of the FBI from comingling of funds.

[GeronL]

is there a link to the pennies video?

[DFG]

I finished reading Donald Rumsfeld’s book “Known and Unknown” today. He is very critical of Colin Powell and somewhat critical of Condi Rice.

Rumsfeld’s criticism of John McCain is spot on.
On page 273, McCain is described as “a man with a hair-trigger temper and a propensity to fashion a shift his positions to appeal to the media”.

Rumsfeld’s close relationship with President George W Bush is interesting since there was some animosity between Rumsfeld and Bush Sr for many years before the 2000 campaign.

[Talisker]

The pennies thing was a real eye opener that most anyone could understand. I believe the most ironic thing is the 1/4 cent and how all Dems and even some Repubs fight like caged animals to prevent those measly cuts.

Think vector, momentum and feedback. It's not the 1/4 cent - it's the direction and mass of the politics behind it. Once things start to turn, people will associate the turning with relief from suffering, and want more of it, etc.

That's why tyrants are so petty and vicious - they have to keep everyone in survival mode, or people will see how close to freedom they really are, and overthrow the tyrants.

It usually only finnaly fails when they make people feel so bad, fighting is better than living. But in the US, the Rats are trying to use this to trigger martial law to stop elections altogether.

That's why, if you want to see God's grace, it's in the patience conservatives are showing in waiting for the elections to come again.

[bvw]

That's why tyrants are so [negative attributes]- they have to keep everyone in survival mode, or people will see how close to freedom they really are, and overthrow the tyrants.

The particulars of the negative attributes don't so much matter, but you are solid, bro, on the necessary objective of successful tyrants and oppressors.

See for example the Book of Judges where various Canannite and Philistine rulers tyrannized Israel in just the way you describe. Israel was reduced to survival mode, their crops raided at harvest, weapons banned, and all sorts of deprivations of the sort that allowed them to survive, but only barely.

It wasn't until Samson stirred up the hornets nesting in the body of the lion that the Lion became aroused and unified enough to fight back, leading up to David, the King.

[PapaBear3625]

If the Clinton admin hadn’t built a wall to prevent the FBI and CIA from sharing information they may well have been able to add 2+2 and get a 4.

Which completes the grid with "known unknown": where we have the information, but the people making decisions and analysis don't have access to it.