Thomas Sowell has studied and taught economics, intellectual history, and social policy at institutions that include Cornell University, UCLA, and Amherst College. Now a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, Sowell has published more than a dozen books, the latest of which is a revised and updated edition of his classic volume, Basic Economics.
“Through its various editions,” Sowell writes, “the fundamental idea behind Basic Economics remains the same: Learning economics should be as uncomplicated as it is informative.”
Here, Sowell seeks to uncomplicate some of the economic issues confronting the country today, from the financial crisis and the role of the Fed to the economics of health care and trade imbalances.
Bio
Peter Robinson
Peter M. Robinson is a research fellow at the Hoover Institution, where he writes about business and politics, edits the Hoover Institution's quarterly journal, the Hoover Digest, and hosts Hoover's television program, "Uncommon Knowledge."
Robinson is also the author of three books: How Ronald Reagan Changed My Life; It's My Party: A Republican's Messy Love Affair with the GOP; and the best-selling business book Snapshots from Hell: The Making of an MBA.
Thomas Sowell
Thomas Sowell is an American economist, political writer, and commentator. He is currently a senior fellow of the Hoover Institution at Stanford University.
In 1990, he won the Francis Boyer Award, presented by the American Enterprise Institute. In 2002 he was awarded the National Humanities Medal for prolific scholarship melding history, economics, and political science.
Fund of gold bullion or coin held by a government or bank. In the past, banks accumulated gold reserves to fulfill their promise to pay their depositors in gold. Commercial banks received deposits subject to repayment in gold on demand and issued notes redeemable in gold on demand. Most gold reserves eventually shifted to central banks, which took over the function of issuing paper money. Gold reserves were moved again in the 1930s, when many governments required their central banks to turn over to the national treasuries all or most of their gold holdings. In the U.S., the Gold Reserve Act of 1934 required Federal Reserve banks to turn over all gold bullion or coin to the U.S. Treasury, which placed most of the reserves at Fort Knox.
I see comments with ad hominem attacks against the speaker, but no contradiction his ideas.
Economic central planning results in war and massive wealth transfers from the poor to the rich. This racket could not exist without the Federal Reserve's monopoly on printing money.
I wander how this guy got degree in economics. He is just ignorant and cannot open his conservative eyes wider; he is just oblivious to economic processes; Listen one more time his explanation to the housing bubble. In fact government removed the hurdles to sign for a mortgage because the “financial circles” wanted to lend more money... what an ass.
wow, what a top-down, self-serving, pile of garbage.
Dr. Sowell is either selling himself politically, or living on another planet.
I have to hand it to the host, several times you could see his frustration in the childish responses his guest made. He handled it well (like you would handle a senile old man in a hospice.)
member. 
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