Sowell on economic/political fallacies

From Thomas Sowell's column in Jewish World Review...

My recently published book, "Economic Facts and Fallacies," deals with some of the most widely promoted fallacies. But no book can cover all the utter nonsense that politicians talk in an election year.

My hope is that "Economic Facts and Fallacies" will expose some of the worst fallacies and leave readers sufficiently skeptical that they will take other political "solutions" with a grain of salt and stop to think before they join a stampede.

Fallacies can sound very plausible if you don't stop to analyze what is being said and don't bother to check out the facts.

Some of the fallacies examined in various chapters of "Economic Facts and Fallacies" include the following:

1. Government programs are needed to create "affordable housing." (Actually, government intervention is what has made housing so unaffordable in places where even hovels are expensive.)

2. Employer discrimination is the main reason for differences in income between women and men. (Tons of evidence point in other directions.)

3. College tuition is going up so fast because of rising costs. (Only if you call voluntary increases in spending "rising costs.")

4. Foreign aid helps poor countries become more prosperous. (Only if you don't look at the evidence.)

5. The rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer. (It all depends on whether you are talking about flesh and blood human beings or statistical brackets.)

"Economic Facts and Fallacies" is not just a demolition derby. It also brings out some facts that seldom get much attention in the media.

1. The poverty rate among black married couples has been in single digits since 1994.

2. The average income of the elderly is several times their earnings, and their wealth is far higher than among younger people.

3. Just as blacks are turned down for mortgage loans more often than whites, so whites are turned down more often than Asian Americans. (What does that do to racism as an all-purpose explanation?)