Archive for Walter E. Williams
Walter Williams is the John M. Olin Distinguished Professor of Economics at George Mason University.
People Before Profits
Walter Williams is the John M. Olin Distinguished Professor of Economics at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia.
Whether it’s Nation of Islam Minister Louis Farrakhan leading the Million-Man March, anti-WTO (World Trade Organization) protesters, or AIDS activists, we’re frequently treated to the chant demanding “People Before Profits.” Since profit demagoguery is a deceptively appealing [...]
The Pursuit of Happiness: Average Americans versus Environmentalists
Walter Williams is the John M. Olin Distinguished Professor of Economics at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia.
A few years ago American Enterprise magazine carried an article by Karl Zinsmeister titled “Environmentalists vs. Scientists.” It’s mostly a report on research published by two academics, Stanley Rothman and Robert Lichter, in their book Environmental Cancer: A [...]
The Pursuit of Happiness ~ What Protects Consumers and Workers?
Baltimore Sun political writer H. L. Mencken once warned, “The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed, and hence clamorous to be led to safety, by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.” As saviors, politicians then announce an array of government programs to safeguard a [...]
1Jul2002 | Walter E. Williams | 0 comments | ContinuedWho Should Vote?
Walter Williams is the John M. Olin Distinguished Professor of Economics at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia.
Status as an adult citizen in a political jurisdiction is seen as a sufficient condition to entitle one to a vote for a representative or participate in collective decision-making. Why not apply that same criterion and [...]
Peaceable Conflict Resolution
Walter Williams is the John M. Olin Distinguished Professor of Economics at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia.
Scarcity is the condition where human wants exceed the means to satisfy those wants. Human wants seldom reveal their bounds, while the means to satisfy human wants are indeed limited. As a result, scarcity’s enduring [...]
Lifestyle Nazi Update
We are not doing the same kind of things with obesity that we have done with smoking and alcohol as far as the government is concerned. It’s got to be like smoking, a constant drumbeat.” That’s former Surgeon General C. Everett Koop, appearing on CNN, January 11, 2000, calling for the nation’s lifestyle Nazis to attack fat people as they attacked smokers.
1Jul2001 | Walter E. Williams | 0 comments | ContinuedRacial Profiling
Former President Clinton called for a national crackdown on racial profiling and ordered federal law-enforcement authorities to begin an investigation. While running for president Al Gore promised the NAACP that if elected, eliminating racial profiling by the nation’s police departments would be a top priority.
1Apr2001 | Walter E. Williams | 0 comments | ContinuedWhat Should One Do?
Let’s do a thought experiment. I’m ordered by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to perform, without compensation, cleaning services at a local retirement home. I’ve not been found guilty in a court of law of a crime for which I’m being punished.
1Jan2001 | Walter E. Williams | 0 comments | ContinuedGreed Versus Compassion
What’s the noblest of human motivations? Some might be tempted to answer: charity, love of one’s neighbor, or, in modern, politically correct language, giving something back or feeling another’s pain. In my book, these are indeed noble motivations, but they pale in comparison to a much more potent motivation for human action.
1Oct2000 | Walter E. Williams | 0 comments | ContinuedSilly Talking
Let’s talk about absolutely ridiculous pronouncements people make that either ignore simple fact or border on insanity. How about this one: Violence is no way to settle anything! Evidence suggests that violence is a very effective way of settling things. Let’s look at a few examples.
1Jul2000 | Walter E. Williams | 0 comments | ContinuedWho May Harm Whom?
Smoking has been one of the hot controversies of our time. Many people find tobacco smoke annoying, smelly, and just plain dirty and unpleasant. Some smokers themselves agree. ut today’s smoking restrictions, not to mention the attack on smokers and extortion of tobacco companies, could not have been engineered simply on the grounds that tobacco smoke is unpleasant.
1Apr2000 | Walter E. Williams | 0 comments | ContinuedCapitalism and the Common Man
Walter Williams is the John M. Olin Distinguished Professor of Economics and chairman of the economics department at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia.
There are some arguments, having a faint measure of plausibility, that have served politicians, charlatans, and assorted do-gooders for well over a century in their quest for control. One of those arguments [...]
Conflicting Visions
Walter Williams is the John M. Olin Distinguished Professor of Economics and chairman of the economics department at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia.
People generally share common goals. Most of us want: poor people to enjoy higher standards of living, greater traffic safety, fewer wars, greater racial harmony, cleaner air and water, and [...]
Ignorance Is Bliss-Maybe
Not having experienced much of the past is a mixed blessing. What’s grotesque, shocking, and unheard of to older Americans might seem normal, perhaps just a bit curious, to younger Americans. For example, last year New Orleans Mayor Marc Morial brought suit against gun manufacturers to recover carnage costs in his city.
1Jul1999 | Walter E. Williams | 0 comments | ContinuedWhat American Education Needs
For over four decades the public education establishment has delivered one educational disaster after another. “Solution” after “solution” has fallen far short of promises. The education establishment’s perennial answer to our education problems is more money.
1Apr1999 | Walter E. Williams | 0 comments | ContinuedThe Civil War’s Tragic Legacy
Walter Williams is the John M. Olin Distinguished Professor of Economics and chairman of the economics department at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia.
The Civil War produced at least two important outcomes. First, although it was not President Lincoln’s intent, it freed slaves in the Confederate States. Second, it settled the question of whether [...]
Fairness: Results Versus Process
Those of us who support liberty, limited government, and rule of law will never prevail in the public arena until we can compellingly make the case that free markets and voluntary exchange are inherently fairer than alternative forms of social organization.
1Oct1998 | Walter E. Williams | 0 comments | Continued-
Latest Toon
-
Book Reviews
-
The End of Prosperity: How Higher Taxes Will Doom the Economy–If We Let it Happen
By Arthur B. Laffer, Stephen Moore, and Peter J. Tanous
