For years now I've been aware of Thomas Sowell, the conservative intellectuals' supposed trump card against progressive/liberal/leftist political arguments (and against accusations of racism on the Right.
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I've read up on him on several occasions, and I've really tried to understand his arguments. Every time I hear him speak, or read any of his books, I'm usually left with more questions than answers.
To simplify my, the various explanations that Sowell gives for what we observe about Black people in America don't seem to link up in any cohesive way. He usually points to the introduction of government welfare programs as the single most destructive thing to happen to Black wealth, even more than slavery and Jim Crow.
I can't find a definitive video or article that debunks Sowell's talking points, so I decided to ask these questions here. If anyone has any links or resources that answers any of these questions, please feel free to share them.
Here are my questions for Thomas Sowell:
- Where does Sowell get his statistics on Black poverty prior to 1960 from, and how can we trust them? (Who gave these statistics? How do we check their work?)
- What is/are the coefficient(s) that links the increase of Black poverty to the introduction of affirmative action welfare programs targeted at Black people? (Correlation does not imply causation. What is the causal relationship between these two things?)
- Why didn't we see the same destruction of wealth amongst white Americans who received those same benefits in the same timeframe (1960's onwards)?
- Hell, why didn't New Deal welfare programs destroy wealth for White Americans in the 1920's? What made the New Deal successful, but the War on Poverty (and beyond) unsuccessful, if welfare destroyed Black wealth?
- Most economists agree that homeownership is the single most powerful tool for families to build wealth. Experts, including experts in racial economics, are also aware that redlining was a pervasive problem leading to low rates of homeownership in the Black community. If both these things are true, how is welfare more damaging to Black wealth than lack of homeownership?
- Experts also note the types of employment Black Americans could find were mostly low-wage unskilled labor positions. If Blacks did hold positions that were similar to their White counterparts, they held them at lower rates, and were usually paid less than their white counterparts. If Black Americans were unable to participate in the economy in the same way as White Americans (hold the same types of jobs, make the same salaries, buy homes and other assets at the same rate, start businesses at the same rate), how was the economic position of Black America "better" prior to 1960?
There are more, but I'll leave these questions as they are for right now.
Could you be specific?