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John Stossel Columns category, Page 4

Pope Francis, first Latin American pontiff, dies at 88
John Stossel: Capitalism is better than charity
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...
John Stossel: Thankful for private property’s harvest
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...
John Stossel: The climate hustle
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...
John Stossel: Taxpayers lose while colleges win
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....
John Stossel: Best parts of life don’t involve politics
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....
John Stossel: Betting on the chances of Trump, Biden
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...
John Stossel: Tale of 2 camps shows public-private differences
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...
John Stossel: Fake fact-checking
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...
John Stossel: Media bias is clear
“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...
John Stossel: Bad policies, not climate change, fuel fires
“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...
John Stossel: Corruption responsible for death of Dallas car wash?
^ 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...
John Stossel: China’s dark turn
“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...
John Stossel: A better president
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...
John Stossel: Tallying Trump’s spending
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...
John Stossel: Big-spending Biden
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....
John Stossel: Anti-racist racists
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...
John Stossel: The world needs more juice
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...
John Stossel: The private space race
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...
John Stossel: Progressive policies wreck everything
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...
John Stossel: Too much faith in models
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...
John Stossel: Standing up to the online mobs
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...
John Stossel: Time to end the war on drugs
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...
John Stossel: Censoring our right to speak freely
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,...
John Stossel: Police unions and bad cops
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...
John Stossel: Let vaccine volunteers risk their lives
Deaths from covid-19 are dropping, but we probably can’t resume normal life until someone develops a vaccine. Experts say it will take at least 12 to 18 months. Why so long? Because to make sure a vaccine works, researchers must recruit lots of volunteers and wait for them to get...


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