John Stossel from Creators Syndicate

Sublet My People Go for 05/22/2013

Wed, 22 May 2013 00:00:00 -0700

My kids moved out! I have two empty rooms in my apartment. Maybe I can rent them? A tourist visiting New York City could have a different experience, and save hotel money. I'd make money. Wouldn't it be great?

No, says the government of my state.

New York recently passed a law making it very difficult for people to offer short-term rentals via popular websites like Airbnb and Roo ...

Updated: Wed May 22, 2013

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True Grit for 05/15/2013

Wed, 15 May 2013 00:00:00 -0700

Are you a real man (or woman)? Do you have "grit"?

Compare yourself to the man on the $20 bill: Andrew Jackson, our seventh president.

During the Revolutionary War, Jackson volunteered to fight. He was just 13 years old at the time. The British captured him and made him a servant for British officers. When one ordered Jackson to clean his boots, Jackson refused, and th ...

Updated: Wed May 15, 2013

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Live Free or Move for 05/08/2013

Wed, 08 May 2013 00:00:00 -0700

Forty-three million Americans moved from one state to another between 1995 and 2010 — about one-seventh of Americans.

It's good that we can move! Moving provides one of the few limits on the megalomania of state bureaucrats.

Americans have moved away from high-taxed, heavily regulated states to lower-taxed, less-regulated states. Most don't think of it as a political decis ...

Updated: Wed May 08, 2013

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Train Wreck Ahead for 05/01/2013

Wed, 01 May 2013 00:00:00 -0700

Most Americans — even those who are legislators — know very little about the details of President Obama's Affordable Care Act, so-called Obamacare. Next year, when it goes into effect, we will learn the hard way.

Many people lazily assume that the law will do roughly what it promises: give insurance to the uninsured and lower the cost of health care by limiting spending on du ...

Updated: Wed May 01, 2013

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The Education Blob's Revenge for 04/24/2013

Wed, 24 Apr 2013 00:00:00 -0700

I wrote recently how teachers unions, parent-teacher associations and school bureaucrats form an education "Blob" that makes it hard to improve schools. They also take revenge on those who work around the Blob.

Here's one more sad example:

Ben Chavis, founder and principal of the American Indian Public Charter Schools, got permission to compete with the Blob in Oakland, ...

Updated: Wed Apr 24, 2013

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A Post-Post Office World for 04/17/2013

Wed, 17 Apr 2013 00:00:00 -0700

Even parts of government that look like a business never get run with the efficiency of a business. Just look at the post office.

They buy commercials and tout their services the way private businesses do. They offer a service that customers want.

But a real business can't get away with losing billions every year. (I guess in the era of bailouts, I should say shouldn't g ...

Updated: Wed Apr 17, 2013

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Government Plays Favorites for 04/10/2013

Wed, 10 Apr 2013 00:00:00 -0700

People say government must "help the little guy, promote equality, level the playing field."

People often go into government to do that. But even when people mean well, it's natural for them to help out their cronies.

David Stockman, who ran the Office of Management and Budget under Ronald Reagan, was criticized for saying the government's budget numbers didn't add up. B ...

Updated: Wed Apr 10, 2013

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Green Tyranny for 04/03/2013

Wed, 03 Apr 2013 00:00:00 -0700

Environmental activists and politicians would like you to think that we must love their regulations — or hate trees and animals.

I love trees and animals.

But you can love nature and still hate the tyranny that environmental regulations bring.

The Environmental Protection Agency just announced it will boost gas prices ("only" a penny, although industry say ...

Updated: Wed Apr 03, 2013

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Imperial Washington for 03/29/2013

Fri, 29 Mar 2013 00:00:00 -0700

The Senate did something this past weekend it hasn't done in four years: passed a budget. The law requires the Senate to pass a budget, but Congress often ignores its own laws. For most of Barack Obama's presidency, a series of continuing resolutions kept the money — your money — flowing. Now the Senate wants to add a trillion dollars of new taxes, even more than President Obama see ...

Updated: Fri Mar 29, 2013

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The Blob That Ate Children for 03/20/2013

Wed, 20 Mar 2013 00:00:00 -0700

Shortly after I did my first TV special on education, "Stupid in America," hundreds of union teachers showed up outside my office to yell at me. They were angry because I said union rules were a big reason American kids don't learn.

The union is a big reason kids don't like school and learn less. Union contracts limit flexibility, limit promotion of good teachers, was ...

Updated: Wed Mar 20, 2013

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Frack to the Future for 03/13/2013

Wed, 13 Mar 2013 00:00:00 -0700

Celebrities are now upset about fracking, the injection of chemicals into the ground to crack rocks to release oil and gas. With everyone saying they want alternatives to foreign oil, I'd think celebrities would love fracking.

I'd be wrong. Lady Gaga, Yoko Ono and their group, Artists Against Fracking, don't feel the love. Yoko sang, "Don't frack me!" on TV.

Stopping fr ...

Updated: Wed Mar 13, 2013

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Sequester: Not Even a Cut for 03/06/2013

Wed, 06 Mar 2013 00:00:00 -0800

If you're reading this, you've survived the "sequester" cuts!

That may surprise you, since President Obama likened the sequester to taking a "meat cleaver" to government, causing FBI agents to be furloughed, prosecutors to let criminals escape and medical research to grind to a halt!

The media hyped it, too. The NBC Nightly News said, "The sequester could ...

Updated: Wed Mar 06, 2013

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Libertarians' Awkward Bedfellows for 02/27/2013

Wed, 27 Feb 2013 00:00:00 -0800

Last week, Conservative pundit Ann Coulter told me and a thousand young libertarians that we libertarians are puss- — well, she used slang for a female body part.

We were in Washington, D.C., at the Students for Liberty conference, taping my TV show, and she didn't like my questions about her opposition to gay marriage and drug legalization.

"We're living in a country ...

Updated: Wed Feb 27, 2013

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To Government, Every Penny Is Sacred for 02/20/2013

Wed, 20 Feb 2013 00:00:00 -0800

President Obama has new priorities. That means new spending.

In his State of the Union, he said, "The American people don't expect government to solve every problem." But then he went on to list how, under his guidance, government will solve a thousand problems, including some (like climate change and a loss of manufacturing jobs) that are probably not even problems.

T ...

Updated: Wed Feb 20, 2013

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A Real State of the Union for 02/13/2013

Wed, 13 Feb 2013 00:00:00 -0800

We've heard another State of the Union speech, and my president said grand things like:

"Think about ... a future where we're in control of our own energy ... I will not cede the wind or solar or battery industry to China ... I will not back down from protecting our kids from mercury poisoning ..."

Actually, he said that in 2012. I write before this year's speech, but ...

Updated: Wed Feb 13, 2013

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Ban This! Ban That! Ban This and That! for 02/06/2013

Wed, 06 Feb 2013 00:00:00 -0800

I like to bet on sports. Having a stake in the game, even if it's just five bucks, makes it more exciting. I also like playing poker. "Unacceptable!" say politicians in much of America. "Gambling sometimes leads to 'addiction,' destitute families!"

Well, it can.

So politicians ban it. It's why we no longer see a poker game in the back of bars. Half the states ...

Updated: Wed Feb 06, 2013

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Obama Is Not King for 01/30/2013

Wed, 30 Jan 2013 00:00:00 -0800

Watching President Obama's inaugural, I was confused. It looked like a new king was being crowned. Thousands cheered, like subjects worshipping nobility. At a time when America faces unsustainable debt and terrible economic troubles, why such pomp?

Maybe it's because so many people tell themselves presidents can solve any problem, like fairy-tale kings — or gods.

Before Ame ...

Updated: Wed Jan 30, 2013

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Shopping Around for a Better Life for 01/23/2013

Wed, 23 Jan 2013 00:00:00 -0800

Thanks, California! Thanks for your monstrous spending and absurd regulatory overreach! America needs you. We need Connecticut and Illinois, too! We need you the way we needed the Soviet Union, as models of failure, to warn us what happens if we believe those who say, "Government can."

Moving to California was once the dream for many Americans. Its population grew at almost tr ...

Updated: Wed Jan 23, 2013

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First, the Bad News for 01/16/2013

Wed, 16 Jan 2013 00:00:00 -0800

We in the media rarely lie to you.

But that leaves plenty of room to take things wildly out of context.

That's where most big scare stories come from, like recent headlines about GM foods. GM means "genetically modified," which means scientists add genes, altering the plant's DNA, in this case to make the crop resistant to pests.

Last week, Poland joined seven ...

Updated: Wed Jan 16, 2013

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A Man's Home Is His Subsidy for 01/09/2013

Wed, 09 Jan 2013 00:00:00 -0800

The Obama administration now proposes to spend millions more on handouts, despite ample evidence of their perverse effects.

Shaun Donovan, secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development, says, "The single most important thing HUD does is provide rental assistance to America's most vulnerable families — and the Obama administration is proposing bold steps to meet ...

Updated: Wed Jan 09, 2013

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