Why Thomas Sowell Ditched Karl Marx
From a RWN interview by John Hawkins:
When I asked around for some questions, columnist David Harsanyi said he'd be fascinated to know whom you read because you're such an influential guy. Who influences Thomas Sowell?I think life itself has influenced me more than any given individual.
I mean, after all I was a Marxist when I went to the University of Chicago and I was a Marxist after I took Milton Friedman's course. So it's really only when I got to have experience working as an economist in the government that I suddenly began to unravel how government in fact works. So then I could go back and read things that Milton Friedman has said and understand them better now that I had some experience to compare it all to.
I mean there have been a lot of great writers whose things have been very informative, but the actual change of position was really from life experiences. I can think of, you know, books by Banfield -- by, oh heavens, Frederick Olmsted, about the antebellum stuff and so forth. In fact I have a whole list of suggested readings on my Web site.
Well, one last question prompted by your last answer. You said you used to be a Marxist and that changed. Talk a little bit about how you moved from Marxism to conservatism.
It occurred during the summer of 1960 when I was an intern of economics in the U.S. Department of Labor. One of the things that concerned me was the question of the effective minimum wages on employment of low income workers. Of course, there are two theories. I was assigned, for example, to study Puerto Rico and so I discovered that after the minimum wage increases, in particular in industries in Puerto Rico, unemployment would increase.
So I said well, how can I test this? Well, the people who were defending them said no, no, employment went down because a series of hurricanes struck Puerto Rico and in those years destroying the sugar cane. So I said what we needed to do then is find out how much sugar cane was standing in the field before the hurricane struck -- and I could see the people in the room were dumbfounded.
To me, it was just a question of finding out what the facts were. They obviously were not interested in the facts because the labor department was benefitting from administering the minimum wage law.
And they're still not.
I realized then you can't depend on the government because the government is not some brooding presence in the sky. The government is an organization with its own interest which it will serve over and above whatever interest it is supposedly being set up to serve.
Sowell's new book: Dismantling America: and other controversial essays
As always the scariest thing in the world -- worse than Michael Myers or Jason Voorhees -- is the phrase "I'm from the government and I'm here to help."
Until we are left alone -- we as an American citizen -- we can not be our best.
Jim P. at November 6, 2010 7:50 PM
Love Thomas Sowell! I try to read every column he writes. The man is a BRAIN!
David M. at November 8, 2010 6:35 AM
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