Excellent book. The United States as a whole would be far better off if everyone read this book. It would be a lot tougher for demagogues to sway public opinion regarding economic matters. One readers criticism was that there were no facts. Those people who do not believe in the free market will not want to accept certain statements from Sowell. If one wants to argue the merits of a free market versus government-controlled markets, this isnt the book. (Yes, unbelievably there are people who still think that socialism; communism and central planning are superior to free markets) "This book will not satisfy hard-core economic junkies, and Sowell does not pretend it will. His target audience is the average citizen who has little or no economics background, but would like the tools to think critically about economic issues. " I would also recommend the classic "Economics in one lesson" by Henry Hazlitt and Sowells "Basic Economics". "Capitalism and Freedom" by Milton Friedman is another great book.lt;P>If one wants to read one of the best (and longest) economic books ever written, then I recommend "Human Action" by Ludwig von Mises (downloadable at )
Sowell takes the key political issues and challenges the reader to analyze not only their short term (Stage One) political impact but to also think ahead to their long term (Stage Two, Three, etc) economic impact. He reminds the reader that politicians do not think beyond Stage One because they will be praised (and elected) for the short term benefits but will not be held accountable much later when the long term consequences appear. He lays out the Stage One benefits of each political issue and then predicts the long term consequences that politicians dont address. Price controls on drugs and health care may have an immediate benefit, but the consumer will pay years later as health care quality decreases and new drug research declines. Reducing the price does not reduce the cost. Does raising the minimum wage really help entry level workers? What happens in the long term when communities raise taxes on businesses? Is free health care really free, or better? We need to look beyond Stage One and separate politics from economics on the hot election year issues.
The arguments in the books for a FREE market doesnt add up to the conculsions. It cited many failures in government interventions as the basis for a complete free market, however there are no hard evidence that a completely free markets in the sectors covered in the book will work. In particular, it advocate a practical appraoch in that it emphasis what is important is actual experience in the past that matters, not the idealistic socialism. It is however, recent experiences that pointed to the fact that markets are never perfected. The public is misinformed about the safety of automobiles, the pubic is misinformed about the consequences of rent control. In a perfect information market, how can the public be misinformed. The zoning of land use is against free market. On this topic, I invite Mr. Sowell to come to Hong Kong (where I live) to see how developers (not checked by a competent government) can damage one of the most beautiful natural harbour in the world. Mr. Sowells arguments are only valid if very one in the market are thinking about stage 4, otherwise it wont work. He is as idealistic as the communist. In the real world, we are have to balance between the two exterme and I dont think Mr. Sowells ideal world exist in any place in the world today.
