Archived Columns From 2006

by Walter Williams

2006 January

The poverty hypeJanuary 04, 2006

Despite claims that the rich get richer and the poor get poorer, poverty is nowhere near the problem it was yesteryear – at least for those who want to work....

Tax cut beneficiariesJanuary 11, 2006

Republican and Democratic big government advocates whine about President Bush’s proposed tax cuts, particularly cuts in the capital gains tax. They say it’s ...

Attacking lobbyists wrong battleJanuary 18, 2006

Jack Abramoff, the Washington lobbyist who’s pled guilty to charges of conspiracy, fraud and tax evasion, has showered millions of dollars on the campaign co...

In government we trustJanuary 25, 2006

What lessons should we have learned from last summer’s deadly and destructive hurricanes? The primary lesson is that we shouldn’t have much faith in a federa...

2006 February

Corporate courageFebruary 01, 2006

We all remember last year’s despicable U.S. Supreme Court 5-4 Kelo v. City of New London, Conn., decision that held as constitutional that the rightful prope...

Bogus rightsFebruary 08, 2006

Do people have a right to medical treatment whether or not they can pay? What about a right to food or decent housing? Would a U.S. Supreme Court justice hol...

Modern day silly talkFebruary 15, 2006

President Bush, during his State of the Union address, said, “America is addicted to oil, which is often imported from unstable parts of the world.” I decide...

Indoctrination of our youthFebruary 22, 2006

Let’s start off with a few quotations, then a question. In reference to the president’s State of the Union: “Sounds a lot like the things Adolf Hitler used t...

2006 March

How to create conflictMarch 01, 2006

High up on my list of annoyances are references to the United States as a democracy and the suggestion that Iraq should become a democracy. The word “democra...

Pandering to blacksMarch 08, 2006

Presidential aspirant Hillary Clinton used Rev. Al Sharpton’s Martin Luther King Jr. birthday celebration to, as Professor Shelby Steele explains, “whistle f...

Youth indoctrination updateMarch 15, 2006

Several weeks ago, I wrote about Overland High School teacher Jay Bennish’s indoctrination of his geography class. In commenting on President Bush’s State of...

Busybodies or tyrants?March 22, 2006

Some call the people behind the Washington-D.C.-based Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) busybodies, but I call them wannabe tyrants. Let’s loo...

Judicial activism or restraintMarch 29, 2006

Are federal, state and local justices appointed to office to impose their personal views on society or to interpret law? Is it a judge’s duty to uphold the U...

2006 April

What's with George Mason?April 05, 2006

George Mason University’s basketball team broke into national prominence, going all the way to the NCAA Final Four matchup but losing to the red hot Universi...

Immigration vs. gate-crashingApril 12, 2006

My sentiments on immigration are inscribed at the foot of the Statue of Liberty: “. . . Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breath...

Is there a federal deficit?April 19, 2006

Let’s push back the frontiers of ignorance about the federal deficit. To simplify things, I’ll use round numbers that are fairly close to the actual numbers....

Minimum wage, maximum follyApril 26, 2006

About a fortnight ago, Mrs. Williams alerted me to an episode of Oprah Winfrey’s show titled “Inside the Lives of People Living on Minimum Wage.” After a few...

2006 May

Disappearing manufacturing jobsMay 03, 2006

According to some pundits and political hustlers, free trade has led to a loss of “good manufacturing jobs.” Let’s look at it, but before doing so, let’s fir...

Caring vs. uncaringMay 10, 2006

George Orwell admonished, “Sometimes the first duty of intelligent men is the restatement of the obvious.” That’s what I want to do – talk about the obvious,...

Restoring liberty in AmericaMay 17, 2006

The Foundation for Economic Education, located in Irvington-on-Hudson, N.Y., celebrated its 60th anniversary on May 6, 2006. On that occasion, the Foundation...

Click it or ticketMay 24, 2006

Virginia’s secretary of transportation sent out a letter announcing the state’s annual “Click It or Ticket” campaign May 22 through June 4. I responded to th...

Economics of pricesMay 31, 2006

Here’s what one reader wrote: “Williams, I can understand how the destruction of Hurricane Katrina and Middle East political uncertainty can jack up gasoline...

2006 June

Help for AmericansJune 07, 2006

John Stossel, ABC’s “20/20” anchorman, has a recently released book about the various untruths we accept, many from the media and academic elite. The book is...

The slippery slopeJune 14, 2006

Down through the years, I’ve attempted to warn my fellow Americans about the tyrannical precedent and template for further tyranny set by anti-tobacco zealot...

Historical tidbitsJune 21, 2006

Karl Marx is the hero of some labor union leaders and civil rights organizations, including those who organized the recent protest against proposed immigrati...

Foreign aid to AfricaJune 28, 2006

British Prime Minister Tony Blair, along with other G-8 leaders, have called for the doubling of foreign aid to African nations by 2010. The idea that foreig...

2006 July

Who's to blame?July 05, 2006

Let’s look at the recent “Nation’s Report Card,” published annually by the U.S. Department of Education’s National Center for Education Statistics. Nationall...

The pretense of knowledgeJuly 12, 2006

One of the great contributions of Nobel Laureate economist Friedrich Hayek was to admonish us to recognize the insurmountable limits to human knowledge. Why?...

Running out of oil?July 19, 2006

“Proven” oil reserves, oil that’s economically and technologically recoverable, are estimated to be more than 1.1 trillion barrels. That’s enough oil, at cur...

Truly disgustingJuly 26, 2006

The House of Representatives voted 245 to 159 to pass the Internet Gambling Prohibition Act of 1999. Because of a rule requiring two-thirds approval, the mea...

2006 August

College stupidityAugust 02, 2006

Colleges and universities will start their fall semester soon. You might be interested in what parents’ and taxpayers’ money is going for at far too many “in...

The minimum wage visionAugust 09, 2006

There are decent people, without a selfish hidden agenda, who support increases in minimum wages as a means to help low-skilled workers, and there are other ...

Are academic elites communists?August 16, 2006

Grove City College publishes an excellent newsletter titled “Visions and Values.” Its July 2006 edition features an interview with Dr. Richard Pipes, acclaim...

Will the West defend itself?August 23, 2006

Does the United States have the power to eliminate terrorists and the states that support them? In terms of capacity, as opposed to will, the answer is a cle...

Property rights attack continuesAugust 30, 2006

Last year, the U.S. Supreme Court, in its Kelo v. New London decision, ruled that the private property of one American could be taken and given to another Am...

2006 September

What's discrimination?September 06, 2006

There’s so much confusion and emotionalism about discrimination that I thought I’d take a stab at a dispassionate analysis. Discrimination is simply the act ...

Constitution daySeptember 13, 2006

Each year since 2004, on Sept. 17, we commemorate the 1787 signing of the U.S. Constitution by 39 American statesmen. The legislation creating Constitution D...

What's prejudice?September 20, 2006

A fortnight ago, my column made a stab at applying dispassionate analysis to come up with an operational definition for discrimination. Basically, discrimina...

Discrimination or prejudiceSeptember 27, 2006

In recent weeks, I’ve offered operational definitions for some of the terms used in the discussion of race. The first was discrimination, which can be broadl...

2006 October

Discrimination, prejudice and preferencesOctober 04, 2006

My previous columns have attempted to reduce confusion by suggesting operational definitions of discrimination and prejudice. Discrimination was defined as t...

Results versus processOctober 11, 2006

Democrats plan to trumpet the income and wealth gap for political gain in this year’s elections. According to The Wall Street Journal article “Democrats’ Ris...

Foreign trade angstOctober 18, 2006

Patrick Buchanan’s recent syndicated column titled “New Deal for U.S. Manufacturers” stokes the fires of misunderstanding and panic. Mr. Buchanan, my longtim...

Should we trade at allOctober 25, 2006

There are only a handful of products that Americans import that cannot be produced at home and therefore create jobs for Americans. Let’s look at a few of th...

2006 November

Diversity adulationNovember 01, 2006

There are some ideas so ludicrous and mischievous that only an academic would take them seriously. One of them is diversity. Think about it. Are you for or a...

Common sense economicsNovember 08, 2006

Professors James Gwartney (Florida State University), Richard Stroup (Montana State University) and Dwight Lee (Georgia University), three longtime colleague...

How much does politics count?November 15, 2006

Blacks and Hispanics, especially blacks, are the most politically loyal people in the nation. It’s often preached and taken as gospel that the only way black...

Should we copy Europe?November 22, 2006

Some Americans look to European countries such as France, Germany and its Scandinavian neighbors and suggest that we adopt some of their economic policies. I...

Why we love governmentNovember 29, 2006

Unlike today’s Americans, the founders of our nation were suspicious, if not contemptuous, of government. Consider just a few of their words.

2006 December

Passing of a giantDecember 06, 2006

Nobel Laureate and Professor Milton Friedman, at age 94, succumbed to heart failure on Nov. 16. While the man is gone, those of us who hold personal liberty ...

The FairTax BookDecember 13, 2006

Last year, talk-show host Neal Boortz and Congressman John Linder co-authored “The FairTax Book: Saying Goodbye to the Income Tax and the IRS.” It turned out...

Racial ProfilingDecember 19, 2006

Charges of racial, religious and ethnic profiling swirl in the wake of US Airways’ removal of six imams. According to police reports, the men made anti-Ameri...

Racial profilingDecember 20, 2006

Charges of racial, religious and ethnic profiling swirl in the wake of US Airways’ removal of six imams. According to police reports, the men made anti-Ameri...

Reinstating the military draftDecember 27, 2006

Congressman Charles Rangel plans to introduce legislation calling for reinstatement of the military draft. He says, “There’s no question in my mind that this...