Thomas Sowell on Rise of Socialism: Educational System, Media Aren’t Encouraging People to Test Ideas Against Facts

Tuesday on Fox Business Network’s “Cavuto: Coast to Coast,” economist and Hoover Institution senior fellow Thomas Sowell offered his thoughts on what appears to a comeback for the popularity of socialism in the United States.

Sowell explained that some of the blame could be put on the media and educational institutions in the country for not doing a better job of putting socialism to the test.

“Unfortunately, neither our educational system nor our media encourage people to test ideas against facts,” Sowell said. “Socialism is a wonderful sounding idea. It’s only as a reality, it is disastrous.”

Prior to his conversion from Marxism to embracing free-market economics, Sowell explained how he relied on empirical evidence, which he argued was lacking now.

“Before I was a Marxist, I was an empiricist, and I stayed an empiricist,” he said. “And with the passing years, as I look into more and more things, I saw the difference between the reality and the rhetoric. Unfortunately, so many people today including in the leading universities don’t pay much attention to evidence.”

“Looking at it from a worldwide perspective, I would say these so-called exceptions are universal on every continent among people of every race, color, creed, and whatever,” Sowell added.

Follow Jeff Poor on Twitter @jeff_poor

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