John Stossel stories, Page 4

Want to make money and help the world, too? Wall Street says you can! If you invest in “socially responsible” funds, say big investment funds like BlackRock, Parnassus, TIAA-CREF, etc., then they’ll do good things for the world, and your retirement funds will grow. These funds obsess about what they...

Many of us will give money to charity this month. Americans give more than any other people in the world. Good for us. Fifty-six years ago, because American charities hadn’t ended poverty, politicians said they would end it. They declared a “war on poverty.” That “war,” so far, has cost...

I’m thankful. Yes, we’ve got the pandemic, lockdowns, a worsening deficit, etc. But we still live in a relatively free country at the most prosperous time in human history. The pandemic showed that when people are faced with crises, we adjust. Restaurants switched to takeout and outdoor dining. Grocery stores...

I hear that climate change will destroy much of the world. “There will be irreversible damage to the planet!” warns a CNN anchor. Joe Biden says he’ll spend $500 billion a year to fight what his website calls an “existential threat to life.” Really? I’m a consumer reporter. Over the...

Yale University has fancy dining halls. It pays no property tax. Local restaurants struggle to compete, but their tax burden makes that hard. “We basically pay one-third of our rent in taxes!” complains Matt West, manager of Koon Thai Restaurant. “Yale is a money-making machine.” It is. Many colleges are....

Worried about Tuesday? Remember: The most important parts of life happen outside politics. Love, friendship, family, raising children, building businesses, worship, charity work — that is the stuff of life! Politicians get in the way of those things. But despite the efforts of power-hungry Republicans and Democrats, life gets better....

Donald Trump probably will lose the election. As I write, The Economist says he has only an 8% chance of winning. Nate Silver’s FiveThirty Eight, which came closest to predicting Trump’s win in 2016 and has the best track record among modelers, gives Trump just a 12% chance. But people who...

When covid-19 hit, I quarantined in eastern Massachusetts. Biking around the woods, I noticed something strange. There are two campgrounds near my house. One is full. Lots of people pitch tents or park trailers at a place called Maurice’s. A short bike ride away is a much bigger campground that’s...

Recently, I released a video that called California’s fires “government fueled.” A few days later, Facebook inserted a warning on my video: “Missing Context. Independent fact-checkers say this information could mislead.” Some of my viewers now feel betrayed. One wrote: “Shameful, John … what happened to you!!? Your reporting was...

“A pioneer devoted to equality.” That was The Washington Post’s headline about Ruth Bader Ginsburg. But when Justice Antonin Scalia died, the headline was, “Supreme Court conservative dismayed liberals.” When the founder of ISIS was killed, the headline was: “Austere religious scholar at helm of Islamic State, dies.” But when...

“Mother Earth is angry!” says Nancy Pelosi. “The debate is over around climate change!” says California Gov. Gavin Newsom, smirking, strangely. They’re eager to blame climate change for the wildfires in their state. I’m surprised they didn’t say it causes covid-19, too. Newsom, ridiculously, says wildfires are a reason to...

^ Politicians shut down businesses because of covid-19. But the rules don’t apply to everyone. In San Francisco, gyms were forced to close, but government gyms stayed open. A Dallas woman was jailed for keeping her salon open, and a New Jersey man was arrested after working out indoors. Ordinary...

“I’m more anti-China than you!” That’s a new theme of this election. Joe Biden says, “We will never again be at the mercy of China!” Donald Trump replies, “China would own our country if Joe Biden got elected!” It’s strange to hear competition, because just a few administrations ago, presidents...

The media obsess about Trump/Biden, but another candidate will be on every state ballot: Libertarian Party nominee Jo Jorgensen. Jorgensen, a psychology lecturer at Clemson University, is different from Donald Trump and Joe Biden. Instead of promising government solutions, she tells people, “You can spend your money better than the...

Last week, I tallied Joe Biden’s spending plans. This week, President Trump’s. Which presidential candidate will bankrupt America first? When Donald Trump ran for president, he promised “big league” spending cuts. Once in office, he again said he’d cut the budget, adding, “There’s a lot of fat in there.” There...

Which presidential candidate will bankrupt America first, Donald Trump or Joe Biden? Last year, we compared the costs of the leading Democratic candidates’ promises. At that time, Biden, to his credit, proposed the least new spending. Kamala Harris promised the most. She wanted to add $4.2 trillion to America’s debt....

Black Lives Matter protests led many people to want to do something useful to reduce racial injustice. Racial justice groups are being flooded with money. Big companies made multimillion-dollar donations. “Bad idea,” says Black radio host Larry Elder. “It is condescending … and not helpful. I urge white people to...

Was the power on in your house this morning? If so, thank fossil fuels! A few parts of America do get energy from other sources. Washington state has fast-flowing rivers that allow Washingtonians to get most of their electricity from hydroelectric power. Iowa now gets about 40% of its electricity...

This week, American astronauts returned to Earth. Their trip to the space station was the first manned launch from the U.S. in 10 years. By NASA? No. Of course, not. This space flight happened because government was not in charge. An Obama administration committee had concluded that launching such a...

I laughed when I saw the Washington Post headline: “Minneapolis had progressive policies, but its economy still left black families behind.” The media are so clueless. Instead of “but,” the headline should have said, “therefore,” or “so, obviously.” Of course, progressive policies failed! They almost always do. “If you wanted...

Between 2 million and 3 million Americans will die! That was the prediction from “experts” at London’s Imperial College when covid-19 began. They did also say if there was “social distancing of the whole population,” the death toll could be cut in half, but 1.1 million to 1.46 million Americans...

The online mob came for Harald Uhlig. What terrible thing had he done? He tweeted that Black Lives Matter “torpedoed itself, with its full-fledged support of #defundthepolice.” Instead of defunding, Uhlig suggested, “train them better.” Hundreds of people then signed a petition to demand that Uhlig, a University of Chicago...

Protesters say America’s criminal justice system is unfair. It is. Courts are so jammed that innocent people plead guilty to avoid waiting years for a trial. Lawyers help rich people get special treatment. A jail stay is just as likely to teach you crime as it is to help you...

Do you say what you think? That’s risky! You may get fired! You’ve probably heard about a New York Times editor resigning after approving an opinion piece by Sen. Tom Cotton that suggested the military should step in to end riots. Many Times reporters tweeted out the same alarmist wording,...

For my internet video this week, my staff showed me clips of violent cops. It’s not just Derek Chauvin kneeling on George Floyd’s neck for almost nine minutes — it’s the other cops who just watch. It’s the Buffalo cops who floored a protester and simply walked by as he...