Economist Walter E. Williams filled in for Rush today, and that meant lots of slow-motion attacks on well-established institutions of the federal government. Williams used most of the first hour to complain about Social Security, saying that an insurance executive who ran his company as Social Security is run would “get shot.” He declared that “we need to find a compassionate way out of Social Security,” like telling “all Americans under 45 of age” to “kiss all the money you put into Social Security goodbye, and get your own retirement program.” Williams read from a nine-year-old think tank report asking whether a war between the generations is “inevitable.” He also discussed a constitutional amendment to limit federa spending that he and Milton Friedman managed to get introduced in Congress back in 1982.
In the second hour, Williams hosted fellow economist Thomas Sowell, who was on to promote his new book. They began by describing the thesis of Sowell's book, which apparently parrots Glenn Beck's claim that progressives acted 100 years ago to “supersede” the Constitution. Williams and Sowell lamented the fact that debt is no longer stigmatized, and Sowell said that “public schools are a major offender” of “eroding all the values” of America and “trying to destroy the country.” They had a typical conversation about how the New Deal failed, but Sowell took it a bit further and claimed that New Deal spending caused unemployment during the Great Depression -- not the stock-market crash. Williams suggested that the interstate highway system is unconstitutional, and they spent some time attacking urban renewal projects. Williams also managed to get in a plug for Fox Business Network's Freedom Watch, where he previously opined that the Second Amendment permits taking up arms against Congress.
In the third hour, Williams said he didn't see any distinction between robbing someone at gunpoint and giving the money to a poor person, and Congress passing a law that used tax money to help the poor person. He also warned people away from thinking that we live in a free market and called taxation “legal theft.” Toward the end of the show, he speculated that fewer people died in the recent earthquake in Chile than the earthquake in Haiti because Chile has stronger property rights.
Here are some highlights from today's show:
Rush sub Williams ties death toll in Haiti earthquake to private property rights
Limbaugh sub Williams calls taxation “legal theft”
Limbaugh sub Williams says “we need to find a compassionate way out of Social Security”