Archived Columns From 2009

by Walter Williams

2009 January

Rich People Versus PoliticiansJanuary 07, 2009

Sometimes I wish there were a humane way to get rid of the rich. Without the rich for whipping boys, we might be able to concentrate on what’s best for the 9...

Congress' Financial MessJanuary 14, 2009

News media people, often plagued with little understanding, fail miserably in their duty to inform the public. This is particularly evident in their reportin...

President Obama's InaugurationJanuary 21, 2009

President Obama was sworn into office placing his hand on Abraham Lincoln’s Bible. That is the last Bible I would use to be sworn into office. You say, “Why?...

There Is No SantaJanuary 28, 2009

Here is what my George Mason University colleague Professor Richard Wagner wrote, which was published by Office of the House Republican Leader: “Any so-calle...

2009 February

The National Ponzi SchemeFebruary 04, 2009

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) was set up to combat fraudulent practices. The SEC’s website explains that “Ponzi schemes are a type of ill...

The Hell with Our ConstitutionFebruary 11, 2009

Dr. Robert Higgs, senior fellow at the Oakland-based Independent Institute, penned an article in The Christian Science Monitor (2/9/2009) that suggests the m...

Economic MiracleFebruary 18, 2009

The idea that even the brightest person or group of bright people, much less the U.S. Congress, can wisely manage an economy has to be the height of arroganc...

A Nation of CowardsFebruary 25, 2009

Attorney General Eric Holder said the United States is “a nation of cowards” when it comes to race relations. In one sense, he is absolutely right. Many whit...

2009 March

Sweden's Government Health CareMarch 04, 2009

Government health care advocates used to sing the praises of Britain’s National Health Service (NHS). That’s until its poor delivery of health care services ...

Good IdeasMarch 11, 2009

During winter months, I work out 10 minutes on the treadmill and lift weights at seven stations four mornings a week. Over the years, during the spring throu...

Prosperity LostMarch 18, 2009

Ask the average person which is the correct answer to the following question: Which president gave the biggest tax cuts for the rich — Reagan or Bush? I woul...

States Rebellion PendingMarch 25, 2009

Our Colonial ancestors petitioned and pleaded with King George III to get his boot off their necks. He ignored their pleas, and in 1776, they rightfully decl...

2009 April

Our Problem Is ImmoralityApril 01, 2009

Most of our nation’s great problems, including our economic problems, have as their root decaying moral values. Whether we have the stomach to own up to it o...

Government DeceptionApril 08, 2009

Most Americans accept the continuing attack on tobacco companies and smokers, but how do they feel about the massive government deception? In 1998, 46 state ...

Democracy and Majority RuleApril 15, 2009

Democracy and majority rule give an aura of legitimacy to acts that would otherwise be deemed tyranny. Think about it. How many decisions in our day-to-day ...

Parting CompanyApril 22, 2009

Texas Gov. Rick Perry rattled cages when he suggested that Texans might at some point become so disgusted with Washington’s gross violation of the U.S. Const...

Law vs. Moral ValuesApril 29, 2009

A civilized society’s first line of defense is not the law, police and courts but customs, traditions and moral values. Behavioral norms, mostly transmitted ...

2009 May

Fraud in AcademiaMay 06, 2009

Soon college students will come home and present parents with their grades. To avoid delusion, parents should do some serious discounting because of rampant ...

Race TalkMay 13, 2009

What to call black people has to be confusing to white people. Having been around for 73 years, I have been through a number of names. Among the polite ones ...

Empathy Versus LawMay 20, 2009

President Obama’s articulated criteria for his nominee to the U.S. Supreme Court is: “We need somebody who’s got the heart to recognize — the empathy to reco...

The Housing Boom and BustMay 27, 2009

Hot off the press is my colleague Dr. Thomas Sowell’s 43rd book, “The Housing Boom and Bust.” The book is an eye-opener for anyone interested in the truth ab...

2009 June

Dumbest Generation Getting DumberJune 03, 2009

The Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) is an international comparison of 15-year-olds conducted by The Organisation for Economic Co-operatio...

Americans Love GovernmentJune 10, 2009

Philosopher Bertrand Russell suggested that “Men are born ignorant, not stupid. They are made stupid by education.” And, it was Albert Einstein who explained...

Live Free or DieJune 17, 2009

“Live Free or Die” is the title of author and columnist Mark Steyn’s speech at Hillsdale College, reproduced in Imprimis (April 2009), a Hillsdale publicatio...

Vicious Academic LiberalsJune 24, 2009

Ward Connerly, former University of California Regent, has an article, “Study, Study, Study — A Bad Career Move” in the June 2, 2009 edition of Minding the C...

2009 July

Why a Bill of Rights?July 01, 2009

Why did the founders of our nation give us the Bill of Rights? The answer is easy. They knew Congress could not be trusted with our God-given rights. Think a...

Senate Slavery ApologyJuly 08, 2009

Last month, the U.S. Senate unanimously passed Senate Resolution 26 “Apologizing for the enslavement and racial segregation of African-Americans.” The resolu...

EPA Cover-upJuly 15, 2009

Here’s what I wrote in last year’s column titled “Global Warming Rope-a-Dope” (12/24/2008): “Once laws are written, they are very difficult, if not impossibl...

The Racism of DiversityJuly 22, 2009

The U.S. Naval Academy’s PowerPoint display explains diversity by saying, “Diversity is all the different characteristics and attributes of individual sailor...

Exploiting Public IgnoranceJuly 29, 2009

How can political commentators, politicians and academics get away with statements like “Reagan budget deficits,” “Clinton budget surplus,” “Bush budget defi...

2009 August

Who May Harm Whom?August 05, 2009

“No one has a right to harm another.” Just a little thought, along with a few examples, would demonstrate that blanket statement as pure nonsense. Suppose th...

Politics and BlacksAugust 12, 2009

President Barack Obama won an unprecedented 96 percent of the black vote. That’s not much of a news story since blacks typically give their votes to the Demo...

Is Racial Profiling Racist?August 19, 2009

Harvard Professor Henry Gates’ arrest has given new life to the issue of racial profiling. We can think of profiling in general as a practice where people us...

What Will They Learn?August 26, 2009

When parents plunk down $20, $30, $40 and maybe $50 thousand this fall for a year’s worth of college room, board and tuition, it might be relevant to ask: Wh...

2009 September

Washington's LiesSeptember 02, 2009

President Obama and congressional supporters estimate that his health care plan will cost between $50 and $65 billion a year. Such cost estimates are lies wh...

Inflation and DeficitsSeptember 09, 2009

With the massive increases in federal spending, inflation is one of the risks that awaits us. To protect us from the political demagoguery that will accompan...

EducationSeptember 16, 2009

Instead of President Obama addressing school students across the nation, he might have accomplished more by focusing his attention on the educational rot in ...

Lying PropagandaSeptember 23, 2009

Michael Moore’s new film, “Capitalism: A Love Story” will be released next month. I’ve neither seen nor read reviews of the film, except for a short piece in...

Is Disagreement with Obama Racism?September 30, 2009

Former president Jimmy Carter said, “I think an overwhelming portion of the intensely demonstrated animosity toward President Barack Obama is based on the fa...

2009 October

Elites and TyrantsOctober 07, 2009

Rep. Diane Watson said, in praising Cuba’s health care system, “You can think whatever you want to about Fidel Castro, but he was one of the brightest leader...

Academic DishonestyOctober 14, 2009

College education is a costly proposition with tuition, room and board at some colleges topping $50,000 a year. Is it worth it? Increasing evidence suggests ...

American IdeaOctober 21, 2009

Americans are harder workers, more philanthropic, individualistic, self-reliant, anti-government than people in most other countries. We’ve turned what was a...

Obama's Nobel Peace PrizeOctober 28, 2009

According to Alfred Nobel’s will, the Peace Prize should be awarded to the person who: “during the preceding year, shall have done … the most or the best wor...

2009 November

Economic Myths and IrrelevancyNovember 04, 2009

Steve H. Hanke is a Professor of Applied Economics at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore and Senior Fellow at the Cato Institute in Washington, D.C., and ...

Constitutional ContemptNovember 11, 2009

At Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s Oct. 29th press conference, a CNS News reporter asked, “Madam Speaker, where specifically does the Constitution grant Congress the ...

Excused HorrorsNovember 18, 2009

Last Tuesday, I had the pleasurable task of being Master of Ceremonies for the Atlas Economic Research Foundation dinner in Washington, D.C., that celebrated...

Voluntarism or Self-Interest?November 25, 2009

How many things in our lives would we like to depend upon the generosity and selflessness of our fellow man, and do you think we would like the outcome? You ...

2009 December

The Pretense of KnowledgeDecember 02, 2009

The ultimate constraint that we all face is knowledge — what we know and don’t know. The knowledge problem is pervasive and by no means trivial as hinted at ...

We've Been HadDecember 09, 2009

Last year, my column “Global Warming Rope-A-Dope” (12/24/08) started out: “Americans have been rope-a-doped into believing that global warming is going to de...

Collusion Against Our YouthDecember 16, 2009

I’ve grown somewhat weary writing about the devastating effects of minimum wage laws but The Wall Street Journal’s “Black Youths Miss Out on Good Job News,” ...

Black EducationDecember 23, 2009

Detroit’s (predominantly black) public schools are the worst in the nation and it takes some doing to be worse than Washington, D.C. Only 3 percent of Detroi...

Modern Day LunacyDecember 30, 2009

Sen. John Rockefeller, D-W.Va., chairman of the Senate Finance Subcommittee on Health Care, and Rep. Joe Courtney D-Conn., a member of the House Education an...