John Stossel from Creators Syndicate

Ron Paul on Immigration for 01/02/2008

Wed, 02 Jan 2008 00:00:00 -0800

I'd heard that that presidential candidate Ron Paul was "hard line" on immigration and "to the right" of the Republican field. But that's not exactly what he revealed during my interview with him. Here's Part 4 of my edited interview.

You want a 700-mile fence between our border and Mexico?

Ron Paul: Not really. There was an immigration bill th ...

Updated: Wed Jan 02, 2008

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Live and Let Live, Says One Candidate for 01/09/2008

Wed, 09 Jan 2008 00:00:00 -0800

Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul opposes things like prostitution and drug use, but he says the federal government has no business trying to stop adults from engaging in them. Freedom of choice, he says, shouldn't just be restricted to choices he approves of. It's the job of the federal government, says the congressman, to protect us from external threats, but it should not try to pro ...

Updated: Wed Jan 09, 2008

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Hating Free Enterprise for 01/16/2008

Wed, 16 Jan 2008 00:00:00 -0800

Why are so many people so hostile to free markets?

Markets provide miracles that we take for granted. Clean, well-lighted supermarkets sell 30,000 products. Starvation has largely vanished from countries where private property and economic freedom are permitted. Free markets have rescued more people from poverty than government ever has.

And yet, when innovators propose extending ...

Updated: Wed Jan 16, 2008

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A Freer World is a Better World for 01/23/2008

Wed, 23 Jan 2008 00:00:00 -0800

This week's newspapers are full of predictions of an impending recession, and maybe they're right. But the great untold story is the good news: the worldwide boom in economic growth.

"I think one of the best kept secrets is that the world is in the midst of an economic boom, and it is largely driven by increases in economic freedom," says economics professor James Gwartney, dir ...

Updated: Wed Jan 23, 2008

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Who's Afraid of Prosperity? for 01/30/2008

Wed, 30 Jan 2008 00:00:00 -0800

Should we worry that the people of China, India and other undeveloped countries are getting richer? Apparently so, according to the newspapers and the "experts" they quote. They don't come right out and say that global prosperity is bad for us. Instead they say, as The New York Times recently said, "As development rolls across once-destitute countries at a breakneck pace, lifting ...

Updated: Wed Jan 30, 2008

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USA Makes Adoption Harder for 02/06/2008

Wed, 06 Feb 2008 00:00:00 -0800

Do you want to rescue an abandoned child and give him a loving home?

Don't even try, says the U.S. State Department.

That's not exactly what the bureaucrats said, but it's close. The State Department says the Guatemalan adoption system "unduly enriches" so-called baby brokers and that "Guatemala has not established the required central authority to oversee intercoun ...

Updated: Wed Feb 06, 2008

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Stimulating Nonsense for 02/13/2008

Wed, 13 Feb 2008 00:00:00 -0800

The hottest buzzword of the day is "economic stimulus." Virtually every politician and pundit agrees the government must act quickly to forestall a recession by increasing consumer spending. President Bush and the Democratic leadership in the House quickly got together on a $150 billion package that also includes tax incentives for business investment.

The Republican and Democr ...

Updated: Wed Feb 13, 2008

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Presidents Can't Manage the Economy for 02/20/2008

Wed, 20 Feb 2008 00:00:00 -0800

The presidential candidates have been repeatedly asked how they would "manage the economy." With the exception of Ron Paul, every candidate has accepted the premise that this is something the president of the United States should do.

Or can do.

Nonsense.

Democrats act like the president is national economic manager. Republicans pay lip service to free markets, tax ...

Updated: Wed Feb 20, 2008

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Guns Save Lives for 02/27/2008

Wed, 27 Feb 2008 00:00:00 -0800

It's all too predictable. A day after a gunman killed six people and wounded 18 others at Northern Illinois University, The New York Times (http://tinyurl.com/37j9ps) criticized the U.S. Interior Department for preparing to rethink its ban on guns in national parks.

The editorial board wants "the 51 senators who like the thought of guns in the parks — and everywhere else, it s ...

Updated: Wed Feb 27, 2008

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Influence-Peddling for 03/05/2008

Wed, 05 Mar 2008 00:00:00 -0800

Since The New York Times published its Page One story alleging an inappropriate link between Sen. John McCain and telecommunications lobbyist Vicki Iseman, we've heard much more about the evil of "influence-peddling."

The day the Times story ran, Sen. Barack Obama debated Hillary Clinton, saying, "Washington has become a place where good ideas go to die. … They go to die b ...

Updated: Wed Mar 05, 2008

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Beware Candidates' Promises for 03/12/2008

Wed, 12 Mar 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Watching presidential candidates promise to "fix" America fills me with dread.

A reason I have this reaction is that I've been doing reports for "20/20" on previous politicians' campaigns to "fix" child sex abuse.

Sexual abuse was always a problem, but in the early 1990s, something changed. Several pretty white girls were victimized at a time when the ...

Updated: Wed Mar 12, 2008

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Politicians and Sex for 03/19/2008

Wed, 19 Mar 2008 00:00:00 -0700

When New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer was caught using a prostitution service, the irony was that he was a tough-on-prostitution politician. He took pride in locking up the same kind of people he is said to have done $80,000 worth of business with. He supported "tougher laws" to imprison customers like him.

In his statement to the news media, Spitzer called the scandal a "priva ...

Updated: Wed Mar 19, 2008

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Law Can't Prevent Underage Sex for 03/26/2008

Wed, 26 Mar 2008 00:00:00 -0700

In my last two columns, I discussed the cases of young people who were placed on sex-offender registries because their sexual partners were below the age of consent. For the rest of their lives, any neighbor or employer who looks them up on the Web will be led to believe they are pedophiles.

This raises many questions, among them: What is the right age of consent?

The legal age is ...

Updated: Wed Mar 26, 2008

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Threat to Homeschooling for 04/02/2008

Wed, 02 Apr 2008 00:00:00 -0700

The cat is finally out of the bag. A California appellate court, ruling that parents have no constitutional right to homeschool their children, pinned its decision on this ominous quotation from a 47-year-old case, "A primary purpose of the educational system is to train schoolchildren in good citizenship, patriotism and loyalty to the state and the nation as a means of protecting the publ ...

Updated: Wed Apr 02, 2008

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Bullies for 04/09/2008

Wed, 09 Apr 2008 00:00:00 -0700

"We cannot use force."

That was my response last week when a lawyer shouted at me, "You media types are bullies, too!"

We were arguing about my Wall Street Journal op-ed that called class-action and securities lawyers bullies and parasites who enrich themselves through extortion. It's legal extortion, but extortion nonetheless (http://tinyurl.com/5dz8b9).

< ...

Updated: Wed Apr 09, 2008

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Market Magic for 04/16/2008

Wed, 16 Apr 2008 00:00:00 -0700

"Stossel, who often touts his belief in 'market magic,' attacks lawyers who represent consumers and others harmed by corporations, and wants instead to let corporate America police itself. This is the same corporate America that today is making the dreams of millions of Americans 'disappear' in the form of home foreclosures and job losses. ... "

That's what a class-action lawye ...

Updated: Wed Apr 16, 2008

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The Sky's Not Falling for 04/23/2008

Wed, 23 Apr 2008 00:00:00 -0700

"Mortgage Crisis," shouts the New York Times. The Times has used the term "subprime crisis" at least 11 times. Not in opinion columns — in news stories.

The columns are worse. Paul Krugman writes: "A lot of the financial system looks like it's going to shrivel up and have to be rebuilt."

The "financial crisis," says Fortune's senior ed ...

Updated: Wed Apr 23, 2008

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The Conceit of the Regulators for 04/30/2008

Wed, 30 Apr 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Unless the government watches closely, the airlines will kill you.

That seems to be what many reporters and politicians believe.

"The result of inspection failures and enforcement failure [by the Federal Aviation Administration] has meant that aircraft have flown unsafe, un-airworthy and at risk of lives," says Rep. James Oberstar, chairman of the House Transportation Co ...

Updated: Wed Apr 30, 2008

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The Left Is Wrong for 05/07/2008

Wed, 07 May 2008 00:00:00 -0700

She was once the darling of conservatives like Newt Gingrich, but now you can't watch a television news-talk program without seeing her calling for more government and showing scorn for those who want less.

She's Arianna Huffington, website impresario (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/) and author of "Right Is Wrong: How the Lunatic Fringe Hijacked America, Shredded the Constitution an ...

Updated: Wed May 07, 2008

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Government Stifles the Wisdom of Crowds for 05/14/2008

Wed, 14 May 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Who will be our next president? If you want an accurate guess, don't ask the pundits. Go where people put their money where their mouths are.

Intrade.com (www.intrade.com), for example.

It's a prediction market, basically a futures market like those where people bet on the future price of oil, gold and pork bellies. But at Intrade, people bet mostly on politics.

The prices ...

Updated: Wed May 14, 2008

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