John Stossel Columns category, Page 2
John Stossel: ‘Private’ makes ‘public’ park perfect
People want “public” rather than “private.” Public is … free, right? Wide open. Sharing. Available to everyone. All good things. “Private” is … selfish, closed, for the rich. Clearly, public must be better. But then why do the words “public toilet” make me cringe? I think: dirty, smelly, ugly, maybe...
John Stossel: Thank private property
Beware the “tragedy of the commons.” It almost killed off the Pilgrims. Now, via Washington, D.C., it’s probably coming for us. Tragedy of the commons is a concept from an essay by ecologist Garrett Hardin. He wrote how cattle ranchers sharing a common parcel of land soon destroy that land....
John Stossel: Government makes you prove you’re needed
“Why does Louisiana have the right to stop me from doing what I love to do?” asks Ursula Newell-Davis in my new video. Newell-Davis has helped people. She’s a social worker who’s worked with kids with special needs for 20 years. She’s really good at it. Now she wants to...
John Stossel: Time to let parents choose
As Virginia’s gubernatorial election drew to a close last week, Democrat Terry McAuliffe brought in teachers union president Randi Weingarten. He thought that would help? I suppose he, like many progressives, believes everyone thinks the way he does. “I’m not going to let parents come into schools and … make...
John Stossel: We need choosier military spending
We’re out of Afghanistan. Good. We should have gotten out before. Our involvement there was America’s longest war, longer than the Civil War, World War I and World War II combined. We accomplished little good and plenty of bad. Tens of thousands killed. A trillion dollars spent. Hawks say, “If...
John Stossel: Lessons from Venezuela
Democrats say President Biden won “a strong mandate.” His government can do all sorts of good things! I don’t believe he has a mandate, but thanks to the selfishness of former President Trump, Democrats control Congress, and that may give them power to shove their worst ideas down our throats....
John Stossel: Hooray for the optimists
There’s so much negative news these days. I was glad to see that a new podcast, “American Optimist,” features good things that are coming. It’s hosted by Palantir founder and venture capitalist Joe Lonsdale. He interviews entrepreneurs like Sal Churi, who funds companies like Icon, which found a way to...
John Stossel: It’s time to let life resume
America remains bound by often extreme pandemic restrictions. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends staying 6 feet away from others. In Oregon, everyone must wear a mask outdoors. In parts of the country, 2-year-olds must wear masks. Are such rules necessary? Recently, Denmark lifted all pandemic restrictions. “Go...
John Stossel: Fighting the BEEReaucrats
Jim Caruso, CEO of Flying Dog Brewery, calls his business a “First Amendment brewery.” That’s because he keeps going to court to defend beer labels. It started in 1995, when Colorado’s Liquor Commission objected to the label, “Good Beer, No S—-.” Bureaucrats told him, “Pull the beer from the market,...
John Stossel: Charity that changes lives
Government-run schools fail kids. Teachers unions and education bureaucrats say, “We need more money!” But America already spends a fortune on public schools. My town, New York City, spends $28,000 per student — half-a-million dollars per classroom! Think about what you could do with that money: Hire five teachers? Pay...
John Stossel: Corporate welfare
Today’s politicians want to spend more on everything: Amtrak subsidies, sports stadium subsidies, green energy subsidies, even fossil fuel subsidies … President Biden says the handouts will “put more money in your pocket.” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi claims they will “protect the planet for the children.” They might. But a...
John Stossel: Toxic victimhood
Are you a racist? All white people are, says “White Fragility” author Robin DiAngelo. Race explains everything, says bestselling “How to Be an Antiracist” author Ibram X. Kendi. “Every policy is either racist or anti-racist.” Kendi’s and DiAngelo’s books are now recommended reading at schools, corporations and in the military....
John Stossel: We should get vaccinated, but not by force
Politicians love force. The idea of leaving us alone to make our own decisions goes against their nature. To be sure, civilized society sometimes needs government force: police to punish killers, soldiers to protect us from foreign invaders, environmental police to stop my smoke from flowing to your lungs …...
John Stossel: Lessons from Georgia
Georgia (the ex-Soviet Republic, not the U.S. state) is now a remarkable success story. Its economy is growing at 5% per year, and the country ranks ahead of the United States in economic freedom. Yet, 20 years ago, Georgia was even more miserably poor than the rest of the former...
John Stossel: Coronavirus censorship
YouTube froze Sen. Rand Paul’s YouTube channel. That’s just wrong. Small-minded. Counterproductive. YouTube says Paul violated its covid-19 misinformation policy when he told an interviewer, “Most of the masks you get over the counter don’t work … virus particles are too small and go right through.” Paul didn’t make that...
John Stossel: Transgender competition unfair
“Why do I have to compete against a male body?” complains mountain bike racer Leia Schneeberger. She and others are upset because today, some transgender women, people born male but who identify as female, are winning sports competitions. Schneeberger regularly won bicycle races, until a former men’s cyclist transitioned, competed...
John Stossel: Politicians’ endless rules
Politicians just don’t learn. People die as police fight drug dealers. Marijuana dealers form gangs and fight among themselves. It’s so stupid. Especially because marijuana is relatively harmless. Finally, some states legalized it, hoping to put an end to the black market. But legalization hasn’t ended the violence. Why? Because...
John Stossel: Woke language
Have you noticed how our language is changing? At a congressional hearing on “Birthing While Black,” nearly every politician used the words “birthing people” instead of “women” or “mothers.” Asked why, Shalanda Young, President Joe Biden’s budget director, said, “Our language needs to be more inclusive.” Activists have also changed...
John Stossel: Innovation happens when rules are broken
America has so many regulations today that often the only way to do something new, to create something great, to prosper is to ignore rules. Minutes before SpaceX launched a rocket, the government told the company the launch would violate its license. SpaceX launched anyway. CEO Elon Musk says the...
John Stossel: Big business loves big government
Politicians say they pass laws to “protect Americans from big business.” People like hearing that. Many don’t like big business. Unfortunately, most people don’t realize that those laws often help big business while hurting consumers. “Big business and big government are not enemies like a lot of people think they...
John Stossel: All Americans have right to bear arms
Would carrying a gun make you feel safer? Robert Nash and Brandon Koch thought so. But the state of New York denied them gun permits, saying they hadn’t demonstrated a “special need.” Why did they have to prove such a “need”? The Supreme Court ruled more than 10 years ago...
John Stossel: Capitalism makes us better off
Last week, I debunked three myths about capitalism. Here are four more: Myth No. 4: Capitalism creates unsafe workspaces. “Greedy capitalists” will risk workers’ lives to increase production if government, through agencies such as the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), doesn’t stop that. It’s logical to assume that government...
John Stossel: Debunking myths about capitalism
Everywhere, people trash capitalism. But what they think they know about capitalism is usually wrong. My new video debunks some myths about capitalism. “No one ever makes a billion dollars,” complains Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. “You take a billion dollars.” In other words, capitalists get rich by taking money from others....
John Stossel: Facebook’s climate censors
Whom does Facebook trust to censor? A Ph.D. graduate from France. Really. The Frenchman, Emmanuel Vincent, started a group he calls “Climate Feedback.” It does “a new kind of fact-checking.” It sure is new. And wrong. I released a video in which some climate scientists argue that climate change is...
John Stossel: Roundabouts are better
I hate waiting at traffic lights. There’s a solution: traffic circles, or roundabouts. Traffic circles terrified me when I first confronted them in Europe. A movie, “National Lampoon’s European Vacation,” captured my experience when it portrayed Chevy Chase driving in London, unable to exit a rotary all day. Besides being...
