"Basic Economics: A Common Sense Guide to the Economy" by Thomas Sowell

"A distinguished British economist named Lionel Robbins have the classic definition of economics: Economics is the study of the use of scarce resources which have alternative uses." p. 2

Sowell focuses quite often, as in his other books, on the importance of looking beyond intent to actual consequences, especially regarding legislation restricting free trade. Many regulations and laws passed with the professed intent to help "the poor" in fact hurt their interests. He uses minimum and maximum wage laws, rent control and price controls as examples.

Prices aren't arbitrary; they're means of allocating scarce resources. Costs are different from expenditures, especially for the government.

Many words and phrases commonly used in the media and by politicians are misleading or based on fallacies. Examples include "fairness," "redistribution of wealth," "greed," and "exploitation."

The combined knowledge of a society is greater than the combined knowledge of a small group of experts. The failed communist experiment in the Soviet Union is used to show the importance of knowledge regarding inventory. Industry leaders like Roy Krone and JC Penney are held up as examples of simple people with great ideas who had opportunities to use their knowledge and foresight in a free market, when they wouldn't have in a government controlled economy.

"When the United Nations announced in 2000 a goal to reduce the number of people living [on a dollar a day or less] by 2015 to one-half the level that had existed in 1990, it turned out that this goal had already been achieved - apparently unknown to the UN officials. The effectiveness of the market does not depend on officials understanding it."

Tax rates and tax revenue should not be confused. Labor costs, labor wages and production costs should not be confused.

People's incomes usually change over their lifetime, placing them in different categories from rich to poor depending on the year. Therefore, the people who make up these groups will change depending on the year.

Speculation lowers risk. Managers and investors "produce" as concretely as workers; it just took place years before or in much less visible ways.

Third World countries remain poor through a lack of investment due to restrictions, regulations and red tape, uncertainty of the ability to keep profits earned when private property isn't protected by law, a lack of financial institutions that turn natural resources into wealth, and widespread corruption.

Profits provide incentives which have proven to be more effective than other incentives at creating wealth for a greater number of people.

Unrestricted international trade is a rising tide that lifts all boats. Tariffs might save some jobs but ultimately, a net number of jobs are lost as higher costs are passed on to other industries. Absolute advantage, comparative advantage, and economies of scale are important in reducing costs and increasing productivity which both lead to greater wealth for all countries involved in international trade.

"Trickle-down theory" is not and has never been a true economic theory, but a straw man argument used by those advocating against the free market.

As a professor, Mr. Sowell would offer an A to any student who could find a positive comment about businessmen in Adam Smith's "Wealth of Nations." No one ever did. Businessmen are interested in what raise their profits and reduce competition, not necessarily what will protect the free market. Therefore, they are often advocates of government intervention.

Losses are just as important as profits in the workings of the free market, but are not as fun for businesses to talk about.

"Common Sense and Other Writings" by Thomas Paine

"A long habit of not thinking a thing wrong, gives it a superficial appearance of being right... Time makes more converts that reason." p.5

"Some writers have so confounded society with government as to leave little or no distinction between them... Society is produced by our wants, and government by our wickedness; the former promotes our happiness positively by uniting our affections, the latter negatively by restraining our vices." p. 6

The King equals a worm. "How impious is the title of sacred majesty applied to a worm, who in the midst of his slendor is crumbling into dust!" p. 12

"When a man seriously reflects on the idolatrous homage which is paid to the persons of Kings, he need not wonder, that the Almighty, ever jealous of his honor, should disapprove of a form of government which so impiously invades the prerogative of heaven." p. 12

Expounds on the story of Gideon in the Old Testament by saying, "The Jews...proposed making him king, saying, Rule thou over us, thou and thy son and thy son's son. Here was temptation in its fullest extent; not a kingdom only, but an hereditary one, but Gideon in the piety of should soul replied, I will not rule over you, neither shall my son rule over you, THE LORD SHALL RULE OVER YOU. Words need not be more explicit; Gideon doth not decline the honor, but denieth their right to give it; neither doth he compliment them with invented declarations of his thanks, but in the positive stile of a prophet charges them with disaffection to their proper Sovereign, the King of heaven." p. 13

King equals the Pope. "For monarchy in every instance is the Popery of government." p. 14

King equals an ass. "One of the strongest natural proofs of the folly of hereditary right in kings, is, that nature disapproves it, otherwise she would not so frequently turn it into ridicule by giving mankind an ass for a lion." p. 15

King equals a ruffian and plunderer. "Could we take off the dark covering of antiquity, and trace [kings] to their first rise, that we should find the first of them nothing better than the principle ruffian of some restless gang, whose savage manners or pre-eminence in subtility obtained him the title of chief among plunderers." p. 15

King equals a bastard. "A French bastard landing with an armed banditti, and establishing himself king of England against the consent of the natives, is in plain terms a very paltry rascally original. - It certainly hath no divinity in it." p. 16

Hereditary monarchy "opens the door to the foolish, the wicked, and the improper, it hath in it the nature of oppression." p. 17

A regent acting for a minor king would "have every opportunity and inducement to betray their trust." p. 17

Monarchy " 'tis a form of government which the word of God bears testimony against, and blood will attend it." p. 18 20

"The Federalist: A Commentary on the Constitution of the United States" by Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, and James Madison

A book of beautiful and pure political philosophy. The version I've used is "The Modern Library Classics" edition. I know it would have been easier for me to put down the numbers of the corresponding letter instead of the page number, but I'm too lazy.

"Of those men who have overturned the liberties of republics, the greatest number have begun their career by paying an obsequious court to the people; commencing demagogues, and ending tyrants." p. 6

"It is easy to see that jealousies and uneasiness may gradually slide into the minds and cabinets of other nations, and that we are not to expect that they should regard our advancement in union, in power and consequence by land and by sea, with an eye of indifference or composure." p. 19

"Union and a good national government [is] necessary to put and keep [other countries] in such a situation as, instead of inviting war, will tend to repress and discourage it." (emphasis in original) p. 19

"Safety from external danger is the most powerful director of national conduct. Even the ardent love of liberty will after a time, give way to its dictates. The violent destruction of life and property incident to war, the continual effort and alarm attendant on a state of continual danger, will compel nations the most attached to liberty to resort for repose and security to institution which have a tendency to destroy their civil and political rights. To be more safe, they at length become willing to run the risk of being less free." p. 42

"As long as the reason of man continues fallible, and he is at liberty to exercise it, different opinions will be formed." p. 55

"Why has government been instituted at all? Because the passions of men will not conform to the dictates of reason and justice, without constraint." p. 91

"It will always be far more easy for the State governments to encroach upon the national authorities, than for the national government to encroach upon the State authorities." p. 101

"For it is a truth, which the experience of ages has attended, that the people are commonly most in danger when the means of injuring their rights are in the possession of those of whom they entertain the least suspicion." p.153

Regarding the defense of the people against a too-powerful government, and relating to the 2nd amendment: "If circumstances should at any time oblige the government to form an army of any magnitude, that army can never be formidable to the liberties of the people while there is a large body of citizens ... who stand ready to defend their own rights and those of their fellow-citizens."

"Let us recollect that peace or war will not always be left to our option; that however moderate or unambitious we may be, we cannot count upon the moderation, or hope to extinguish the ambition of others ... To judge from the history of mankind, we shall be compelled to conclude that the fiery and destructive passions of war reign in the human breast with much more powerful sway than the mild and beneficent sentiments of peace; and that to model our political systems upon speculations of lasting tranquility, would be to calculate on the weaker springs of the human character." (emphasis mine) p. 203

"The idea of an actual representation of all classes of the people, by persons of each class, is altogether visionary." p. 210

"It is said to be necessary, that all classes of citizens should have some of their own number in the representative body, in order that their feelings and interests may be the better understood and attended to. But we have seen that this will never happen under any arrangement that leaves the votes of the people free." p. 211

"It might be demonstrated that the most productive system of finance will always be the least burdensome." p. 213

"I acknowledge my aversion to every project that is calculated to disarm the government of a single weapon, which in any possible contingency might be usefully employed for the general defence and security." p. 220

"The genius of republican liberty seems to demand on one side, not only that all power should be derived from the people, but that those intrusted with it should be kept in dependence on the people, by a short duration of their appointments; and that even during this short peropod the trust should be placed not in a few, but in a number of hands." p. 224

"It is a matter both of wonder and regret, that those who raise so many objections against the new Constitution should never call to mind the defects of that which is to be exchanged for it.l It is not necessary that the former should be perfect; it is sufficient that the latter is more imperfect." p. 236

"What color of propriety could the force necessary for defence be limited by those who cannot limit the force of offence? If a federal Constitution could chain the ambition or set the bounds to the assertions of all other nations, then indeed might it prudently chain the discretion of its own government." p. 257

"This picture of the consequences of disunion cannot be too highly colored, or too often exhibited. Every man who loves his country, every man who loves liberty, out to have it ever before his eyes, that he may cherish in his heart a due attachment to the Union of America, and be able to set a due value on the means of preserving it." p. 260 (emphasis mine)

"It were doubtless to be wished, that the power of prohibiting the importation of slaves had not been postponed until the year 1808, or rather that it had been suffered to have immediate operation." p. 268

"The powers delegated by the proposed Constitution to the federal government are few and defined. Those which are to remain in the State governments are numerous and indefinite... The operations of the federal government will be most extensive and important in times of war and danger; those of the State governments in times of peace and security." p. 298

More on the importance of citizens bearing arms in The Federalist No. 46

"If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary. In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself." (emphasis mine) p. 331

"It is of great importance in a republic not only to guard the society against the oppression of its rulers, but to guard one part of the society against the injustice of the other part." p. 333

"If it be true...that sayings which become proverbial are generally founded in reason, it is not less true, that when once established, they are often applied to cases to which the reason of them does not extend." p. 341

"No man can be a competent legislator who does not add to an upright intention and a sound judgement a certain degree of knowledge of the subjects on which he is to legislate." p. 344

"In all very numerous assemblies, of whatever character composed, passion never fails to wrest the sceptre from reason. Had every Athenian citizen been a Socrates, every Athenian assembly would still have been a mob." p. 356

"The aim of every political constitution is, or ought to be, first to obtain for rulers men who possess most wisdom to discern, and most virtue to pursue, the common food of the society; and in the next place, to take the most effectual precautions for keeping them virtuous whilst they continue to hold their public trust." p. 365

"Who are to be the electors of the federal representatives? Not the rich, more than the poor; not the learned, more than the ignorant; not the haughty heirs of distinguished names, more than the humble sons of obscurity and unpropitious fortune. The electors are to be the great body of the people of the United States." p. 366

"Every government out to contain in itself the means of its own preservation." (emphasis in the original) p. 378

"It ought never to be forgotten, that a firm union of this country, under an efficient government, will probably be an increasing object of jealousy to more than one nation of Europe; and that enterprises to subvert it will sometimes originate in the intrigues of foreign powers, and will seldom fail to be patronized and abetted by some of them." p. 383

"It is a just observation, that the people commonly intend the public good. This often applies to their very errors. But their good sense would despise the adulator who should pretend that they always reason right about the means of promoting it." p. 458

"[It should be] admitted that the desire of reward is one of the strongest incentives of human conduct; or that the best security for the fidelity of mankind if to make their interest coincide with their duty." p. 464

"[It would be wise to] consider every institution calculated to restrain the excess of law-making, and to keep things in the same state in which they happen to be at any givern period, as much more likely to do good han harm; because it is favorable to greater stability in the system of legislation." p. 471

"The remark is unquestionably just, that an hereditary monarch, though often the oppressor of his people, has personally too much at stake in the government to be in any material danger of being corrupted by foreign powers. But a man raised from the station of a private citizen to the rank of chief magistrate, possessed of a moderate or slender fortune, and looking forward to a period not very remote when he may probably be obliged to return to the station from which he was taken, might sometimes be under temptations to sacrifice his duty to interest, which it would require superlative virtue to withstand." p. 480

"The creation of crimes after the commission of the fact, or, in other words, the subjecting of men to punishment for things which, when they were done, were breached of no law, and the practice of arbitrary imprisonments, have been, in all ages, the favorite and most formidable instruments of tyranny." p. 548

"I never expect to see a perfect work from an imperfect man." p. 561

"the establishment of a Constitution, in time of profound peace, by the voluntary consent of the whole people, is a prodigy, to the completion of which I look forward." p. 565

"The Case for Democracy: The Power of Freedom to Overcome Tyranny and Terror" by Natan Sharansky

"During my long journey through the world of evil, I had discovered three sources of power: the power of an individual's inner freedom, the power of a free society, and the power of the solidarity of the free world."

"[Stalin turned individuals into cogs] by depriving individuals not merely of their property but also of their connections to their own history, religion, nationality, and culture."

"In the free world, with its varying shades of gray, isolating the black and white, finding moral clarity, becomes far more difficult."

"If we fail to recognize [that the divide between free and fear states is greater than the divide between democratic parties] we lose moral clarity. The legitimate differences among us, the shades of gray in a free society, will be wrongly perceived as black and white. Then, the real black-and-white line that divides good from evil will no longer be distinguishable."

The statement above explains why free people can't tell the difference between religious fundamentalists in democratic states and religious terrorists in fundamentalist states. And how they come to see fellow citizens as enemies and foreign dictators as their friends.

Andrei Sakharov - "A country that does not respect the rights of its own people will not respect the rights of its neighbors."

"Men in Black: How the Supreme Court is Destroying America" by Mark R. Levin

Regarding Curtis's dissenting opinion on the now universally abhorred Dred Scott case: "When a strict interpretation of the Constitution ... is abandoned, and the theoretical opinions of individuals are allowed to control its meaning, we have no longer a Constitution; we are under the government of individual men."

"Unholy Alliance: Radical Islam and the American Left" by David Horowitz

"[Socialist theories] provided no rational method for allocating resources and no effective work incentives, and no guarantees of individual rights."

Neo-communists are a coalition of causes (or, as the founders would have called them, factions) who have no blueprint for their utopia. Thus they operate in ways that benefit Islamic radicals and dictators because they're opposed to the US and not "for" anything in particular.

"Even after the fall of Communism, [neo-communists] believe that Western market societies are societies whose destruction is required in the name of humanity and its survival."

p. 130 The far left feel that "religious belief is a response to the suffering caused by private property... The revolution that removes the cause of this suffering will also remove the religious beliefs it inspires. Thus, the liberation of mankind from private property - the defeat of America and Western capitalism - will liberate Islamic fanatics from the need to be Islamic and fanatic."

p. 131 "Whatever atrocities the Soviets had committed or miseries they had caused, the Soviet state was nonetheless a defender of revolutionary hopes and an obstacle to the predations of the democratic West."

Racism is systemic and institutional. "Only whites can be racist," according to the far left. "Race-gender class hierarchies are a staple of academic curriculum." Racism is not an attitude or belief, but the "objective expression of an inequality of power" outside of an individual's control. Therefore, all whites are inherently racist according to leftists.

"Heaven on Earth: The Rise and Fall of Socialism" by Joshua Muravchik

Babeauf and Marechal believed that socialism would create equality, which would mean an end of boundaries, hedges, door locks, theft and murder. "All crime."

American was about securing the pursuit of happiness. The French Revolution aimed to secure happiness itself.

Babeauf believed if you had too much, someone else didn't have enough - the fixed bounty of nature, and the idea of zero-sum economics. He felt that no one should be superior to another in any way including intellectually. he wanted to eradicate the desire to be richer, wiser or more powerful than another.

Muravchik's mystery: "How could an idea that so consistently showed itself to be incongruent with human nature have spread faster and further than any other belief system? And how did an idea calling upon so many humane sentiments lend its name to the cruelest regimes in human history?"

Harrington: Socialiam made things easier. Heaven was found in this world rather than waiting for the next. And it asked for little in return. At most, you were to support revolution, at least, do nothing. You didn't have to worship, obey, make sacrifices, give to charity, confess, or repent. Socialism had an "absence of good and evil or right and wrong. This opened the doors to the terrible deeds that were done in the name of socialism."

Religionists who do terrible deeds must "ignore or suppress core elements of their creeds that address moral commands to the believer himself. Socialism, in contrast, lacks any internal code of conduct to limit what believers may do."

During the crusades, 2 million people were killed in 300 years. Pol Pot murdered 2 million people in 3 years. "Regimes calling themselves socialist have murdered more than 100 million people since 1917. The toll of the crimes by observant Christians, Muslims, Jews, Buddhists, or Hindus pales in comparison."

"Democratic socialism turned out to be a contradiction in terms, for where socialists proceeded democratically, they found themselves further from socialism. Imaginary utopias all relied on coercion."

"Occasionally...leftists boast and rightists lament that 'we are all socialists now.' But the opposite is nearer to the truth. [Socialists] recognize the limits of the welfare state, voters have hefty appetites for government benefits but rebel when taxes grow too high."

"Part of the power of Marism was its ability to feed religious hunger while flattering the sense of being wiser than those who give themselves over to unearthly faiths."