How intellectuals misunderstand income inequality | Thomas Sowell

Support on Patreon:

You can support our work by buying any of Dr. Sowell's books:
- Black Rednecks and white Liberals:
- Intellectuals and society:
- Intellectuals and Race:
- Basic Economics:
- Charter Schools and their enemies:
- Discrimination and Disparities:
- Economic Facts and Falacies:
- The Vision of the Anointed: Self-congratulation as a Basis for Social Policy:

Thomas Sowell is an American economist and political commentator. He taught economics at Cornell University, the University of California, Los Angeles, and since 1980 at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, where he is currently a Senior Fellow.
This channel helps to promote his teachings and principles of economics and philosophy.
Please subscribe to this channel through the link

FAIR USE NOTICE: This Videos may contain copyrighted (©) material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. Such material is made available to advance understanding of ecological, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, moral, ethical, and social justice issues, etc. It is believed that this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior general interest in receiving similar information for research and educational purposes.

[samuelarthur]

I wonder how Sowell acquired this penetrating way of identifying the real facts at play.

[niklasmolen]

The fact that 5 million children are starving to death is not an economic issue. That is a political issue. Starvation is used as a weapon in war or genocide. It is not a question of the rich securing a larger share of the money.
They starve because someone wants them to starve, that's a whole other thing.

[dongaetano]

Our elder and guide to truth and rational thinking. How can we not love and respect him?
His research approach always gets to the facts that reveal the truth. What an example for us all.
Thanks TSTV

[autodidact]

It must be remembered that Noam Chomsky is a millionaire (just like Bernie Sanders).

[RazvanMihaeanu]

Damn, this is savage!... math and economics versus ideologists.

[williamwenrich]

I was in the lowest quintile when I enlisted in the USAF. Over the next 55 years I moved from the third to fourth with occasional bumps into the highest quintile when I cashed in unused vacation or collected part of my 401K. I am a person not a statistical category. Another problem is the use of household income instead of per-capita. Divorce will cut the average household income in half.

[philosophera]

Another thing to consider is that our poorest live better than heads of state did just a mere 150 years ago .... quality of our lives here is amazing and we take it for granted

[adker]

This guy is sharp. A lot of people can not comprehend this stuff. Even after looking at a video like this. They go back to their same crap line of thought.

[ohsweetmystery]

I've never understood why income inequality is bad. The amount of individual contribution varies from zero to enormous amounts. So shouldn't income vary from zero to enormous amounts? I do disagree with what most people value as a contribution (entertainment, convenience), but who am I to argue that what I value is better than what they value?

[chrish]

The inequality really isn’t the factor that we should be focusing on. It should be the number of people that have been brought out of a fixed definition of poverty. Capitalism has brought more people out of abject poverty than all the other forms of government combined. Thanks Dr. Sowell for helping me learn to focus on the things that matter rather than the shining objects with which the left continues to try to distract me. It’s sad, but as I get older I don’t suffer fools nearly as gladly as I once did so I can’t stand listening to Chomsky and his ilk anymore.

[naimamusique]

The intellectuals are fighting against what their biggest fear: realize that they are not more useful than anybody else.

[rob]

When you understand that “intellectual” does not necessarily mean “intelligent”

[marcisaacs]

Dr Sowell at 91 is, through extraordinary hardwork and pure observation and statistical analysis and having been brought up in the south and Harlem and a host of other challenges, thee most brilliant man on the scene despite attempts to denigrate the Maverick. God bless you Dr. Sowell

[DanWhe]

It is never a resource issue, and Chomsky always fails to understand both this and human interaction. The starvation issue is a matter of culture and national policy (as these are always in nations that perpetuate civil war and greed).

[markbrown]

I like how they play with stats and numbers. At 5:20 the presenter states that the majority of people lost buying power. This is clearly not accurate and you shouldn't need anything above high school math to see it. He's taking a large statistical variation (the bottom 20%) and then going down his "chart" just far enough that that large statistical variation can absorb the other groups gains through averaging (averaging -12.1, -0.1 and 8.4 to get a negative average of -1.2% for 60% of the population). It's quite obvious from his data that everyone from 40% to the top gained. If 60% gained that is the actual majority. The truth is: 60% of the population gained wealth (buying power) 20% saw no noticeable difference, and 20% took a very sizable hit. But he intentionally manipulates the data to erroneously state that 60% lost buying power. If he'd done it the other way, starting at the top and averaging down, the gains of all the other brackets would far exceed the cover needed for the lose at the bottom 20% (the overall average is +13%), but that doesn't fit the narrative.

[johnmaher]

We have a ton of ultra rich lefty's. Funny how they are not doing anything about hunger etc...

[chadwoods]

As the Late Christopher Hitchens said about Chomsky, and I'm paraphrasing here, is that he is infamous for giving half truths and leaving out context.

[christopherwoodjr]

This was extremely enlightening. I have started to read "Basic Economics" and am thoroughly enjoying it. These days, there are so many confusing comparisons and statements zooming around with wild implications. It is so refreshing to follow facts to where they actually lead.

[domaths]

Chomsky's premise is that the wealth pie is a fixed size.

[TM-dhxb]

If after 30 years of earning a wage you have less buying power than you did 30 years ago, that strikes me as an inflation problem, not an income problem.