Thomas Sowell | The Federal Reserve

Economist Thomas Sowell explains why he supports Ron Paul's stance on abolishing the Federal Reserve. When asked by Peter Robinson what should replace the Fed, Sowell replies: "When someone removes a cancer, what do you replace it with?"

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Thomas Sowell has studied and taught economics, intellectual history, and social policy at institutions that include Cornell University, UCLA, and Amherst College. Now a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, Sowell has published more than a dozen books, the latest of which is a revised and updated edition of his classic volume, Basic Economics.

"Through its various editions," Sowell writes, "the fundamental idea behind Basic Economics remains the same: Learning economics should be as uncomplicated as it is informative."

Here, Sowell seeks to uncomplicate some of the economic issues confronting the country today, from the financial crisis and the role of the Fed to the economics of health care and trade imbalances. - Hoover Institution

Thomas Sowell is an American economist, political writer, and commentator. He is currently a senior fellow of the Hoover Institution at Stanford University. In 1990, he won the Francis Boyer Award, presented by the American Enterprise Institute. In 2002 he was awarded the National Humanities Medal for prolific scholarship melding history, economics, and political science.

Peter M. Robinson is a research fellow at the Hoover Institution, where he writes about business and politics, edits Hoover's quarterly journal, the Hoover Digest, and hosts Hoover's television program.