The Wisdom of Sowell and Lincoln

I just love Thomas Sowell. His articles are always so clear and concise, filled with citations and common sense. He begins this one, Stimulus or Sedative?, with a quotation from another logical thinker, Lincoln:

Abraham Lincoln once asked an audience how many legs a dog has, if you called the tail a leg? When the audience said "five," Lincoln corrected them, saying that the answer was four. "The fact that you call a tail a leg does not make it a leg."

That same principle applies today, says Sowell. The fact that politicians call something a "stimulus" does not make it a stimulus. The fact that they call something a "jobs bill" does not mean there will be more jobs.

 Sowell continues by arguing that the so-called stimulus bill has had the opposite effect of its name, instilling little to no confidence in the private sector. The result? Money dumped into the economy isn't encouraging the American people to spend. Keep reading here.