FCL Series - Thomas Sowell - A Citizens Guide to the Economy

The “FCL” Series – For some length of time now, I’ve given some thought to putting out something like this. A principal problem is that of labels, and another is the lack of room in a torrent description to write anything approaching even a SYNOPSIS of a clear manifesto. Therefore, I have decided to call this FCL (an acronym for Fiscal Conservative Libertarian) for the sake of brevity and clarity. There are in America (and to a lesser degree in Europe) a huge number of people who would largely fit into this camp. We are the practical, the scientific, the skeptical and the truly logically analytical. We are IN NO WAY dogmatic or organized, but we generically agree to a certain extent on some core ideas. We think people who attend rallies or protests are shmucks. We think people can express their political opinions on bumperstickers are too stupid to vote. We think whenever we hear the phrase “there ought to be a law!” that there probably shouldn’t be. We have differing opinions on abortion, gun control, the death penalty, flag burning, and gay rights, but agree categorically that such decisions ought not to be Constitutional issues and are best left to the local voters. We think that the Federal Government ought not to do much of anything other than core responsibilities, especially if they have no idea how to pay for it. We don’t vote with out hearts but with our heads. We are never loyal to any party. We are very pro-military, and most of us have served. We don’t trust any politician and we despise empty symbolism, ignorant populism, and idiotic sloganeering. We are all about practical economics, actual freedom from the leftist nannies and rightist religious police, and we like individual responsibility. People like me have been going nuts for a long time with the economic stupidities of our government and fellow citizens, the general inability of these to understand real long term effects, and we are sick to death of people blaming US for George Bush instead of the RELIGIOUS and SOCIAL conservatives who elected him. We are NOT “neo-cons”, “dittoheads”, or lovers of Fox News, and we are sick and tired of lefties telling us we must be supporters of Limbaugh and Falwell. WE are the people who watch Penn & Teller’s BULLSHIT and love SOUTH PARK. We think Obama is a very nice fellow whose economic policies at best will lead America on a path in the long run to a low rent failed soft-core Socialism. Finally, we think that the 40% on either side that make up the core of the two major sides are usually reaching bad conclusions and voting stupidly because they listen to propaganda and don’t truly understand some complicated issues with an honest degree of depth. Therefore, since there is no shortage of people here with an agenda (some of which borders on the insane), I am going to put out a collection of material that gives a good accounting of the fiscal conservative point of view. Some of it I personally take as gospel, some of it is merely generic. Speaking as a history and social studies teacher, I feel qualified to select materials that reflect this point of view. It is my hope that many will increase their knowledge of complicated historical and economic events by this effort. I do not seek to foster argument or win converts, but merely to explain to the right wingers why we would rather have freedom than ban abortion or marijuana, and to get it through to the left that not everyone who doesn’t toe their fantasy line is a flat-Earther or fascist. Most of this material will be conservative, and most will deal with economics. There will be no political diatribes from dogmatic and non-practical people (Sorry to all the Coulter and Chomsky fans) who are more intent on pushing a fantasy utopia that pursuing practical liberty. Rambam1776 Thomas Sowell - Basic Economics: A Citizens Guide to the Economy Bitrate: 32 kbps "Economics is the study of the use of scarce resources which have alternative uses." At last there is a citizen's guide to the economy, written by an economist who uses plain English. Thomas Sowell explains exactly what economics is and what its guiding principles are. No jargon, no graphs, no equations in this comprehensive survey, from scarcity, the balance of trade, and price controls to minimum-wage laws, competition, profits, losses and the role of government. Intended as a primer for the citizen not trained in the basics of economic theory. Produced by Blackstone Audio. Torrent originally uploaded on MakeGreatMusic dot Net

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 rambam1776 (2009-04-27)

**NOTE** - This series has multiple entries on several trackers, and has garnered some similar commentary in different places. What I write following this paragraph is a generic explanation / response, even in places where there hasn?t yet been such commentary.
It would seem I wasn?t clear enough above regarding labels. The sociopolitical TERM ?Libertarian? does not refer to the PARTY, but to the CONCEPT. For example, the term ?Republican? refers properly to some system of government in which the people are governed by some form of elected representatives, whereas ?Democratic? refers to direct elections or votes with no interlaying representative layer. I don?t want to sound snotty or insulting, but the comments reinforce my point that people are not deep or complete in their political thinking.
Looking at the comments I have received on this series (either on this thread and elsewhere), I see folks who saw a word or two, leapt to some conclusions, and posted. Furthermore, some of the thoughts / accusations posted indicated a lack of familiarity on THEIR part with an accurate portrayal or a deep enough understanding OF actual conservative ideas or motivations.
The biggest problem with the blogosphere / internet / whatever is the old ?too long, didn?t read? syndrome. I?m a teacher. I need some time to cover ANY topic to the point where I feel it has been well presented. I don?t like sound bites, blanket statements or generalizations, but people online will rarely stand for more. In fact, I sincerely doubt a lot of people either read the torrent description or have gotten THIS far into my comment here. However, let me resort to generalizations by saying that millions of people hear the terms ?conservative? or ?liberal? and both immediately and ILLOGICALLY reach conclusions that are faulty and then their minds snap shut.
A proper presentation or defense of the FCL (or any) point of view is one that takes time, facts, statistics, and effort. I cannot put up even a pitiful defense or explanation in this type of forum. All I can say is this: Is the reader a person who would NOT immediately identify with the so-called FCL point of view, either because you are a ?liberal? or a social conservative, someone who is hostile to the term ?conservative? and cannot understand why so many ?foolish? people choose to BE conservatives, or someone honest enough to admit that their knowledge of complex socio-geopolitics is rather shallow? If so, please take a few hours to examine these materials to see what we really think and why.
One last point for those who are curious or hostile to the FCL view. We are not accurately summed up or portrayed by Rush Limbaugh or Fox News anymore than YOU are by CNN, the PTL Club, or rioting hippies who think smashing windows in Seattle helps poor children in the third world. If you will not take the brief time to see what WE have to say about ourselves and our ideas, then you are the equivalent of the ignorant bigot who hates a group of people without knowing much about them. Some of the silly comments I have received on this series indicates EXACTLY that phenomenon. Please take the time to STUDY.

ut1880h (2010-01-02)

This is my favorite Economics book. I've studied the printed form for quite a while and it's been well worth the effort. I don't mean this is difficult material. I learn something important every time I listen to the mp3. It's a great one to have on your mp3 player and listen to while jogging.
Thanks much to rambam1776 for this whole FCL series. The USA has been hijacked by leftists because too many of its citizens have no clue as to how inferior the left's economic ideology actually is. This isn't a book about politics (left vs right, etc) but will give the listener a good idea as to why prices are a much better manager of resource allocation than government bureaucracies. That historically proven fact alone is enough to debunk the majority of the lunacy currently rampant in that nation and Western Europe (but curiously not rampant in Eastern Europe since they've had their fill of bullshit).