Townhall Columnists Walter E. Williams

Walter E. Williams

 

Something for Nothing

By Walter E. Williams (Sep 01, 2010)

Perhaps the most difficult economic lesson is that we live in a world of scarcity and everything has a cost. Scarcity exists whenever human wants exceed the means to satisfy... more

Who Cares About Our Future?

By Walter E. Williams (Aug 25, 2010)

My column titled "What Handouts to Cut?" created a number of angry responses, and for the first time in my life, I had some, not much, sympathy for political cowardice. Most... more

Will Republicans Save Us?

By Walter E. Williams (Aug 18, 2010)

Democrat control of the White House, House of Representatives and the Senate has produced an unprecedented level of political brazenness and contempt for the limitations... more

What Handouts To Cut

By Walter E. Williams (Aug 11, 2010)

Because of failure to heed the limitations of the U.S. Constitution, which has produced runaway federal spending, our nation sits on the precipice of disaster. Former Senator... more

Is Profiling Racist?

By Walter E. Williams (Aug 04, 2010)

We live in a world of imperfect and costly information, and people seek to economize on information costs in a variety of ways. If we don't take that fact into account, we... more

Racism or Stupidity

By Walter E. Williams (Jul 28, 2010)

A black or white person, now dead, who lived during the civil rights struggles of the 1930s, '40s or '50s, might very well be appalled and disgusted by black behavior... more

Making Americans Sick

By Walter E. Williams (Jul 21, 2010)

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius promised, "The U.S. government plans to increase funding to battle obesity and views healthcare reform as an... more

A Failed Obama Hero

By Walter E. Williams (Jul 14, 2010)

Let's think about President Obama's failed economic stimulus program. Before getting to the nitty-gritty of why stimulus packages fail, let's look at the failed stimulus... more

The Founders' Vision Versus Ours

By Walter E. Williams (Jul 07, 2010)

The celebration of our founders' 1776 revolt against King George III and the English Parliament is over. Let's reflect how the founders might judge today's Americans and how... more

Where Best To Be Poor

By Walter E. Williams (Jun 30, 2010)

Imagine you are an unborn spirit whom God has condemned to a life of poverty but has permitted to choose the nation in which to live. I'm betting that most any such... more

Government Aggravated Tragedy

By Walter E. Williams (Jun 23, 2010)

When Thomas Paine said, "(G)overnment, even in its best state, is but a necessary evil; in its worst state an intolerable one." He added that when it's self-inflicted, "(O)ur... more

Economic Myths, Fallacies and Stupidity

By Walter E. Williams (Jun 16, 2010)

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. Suppose that a... more

Can Black Americans Afford Obama?

By Walter E. Williams (Jun 09, 2010)

My March 2008 column "Is Obama Ready for America?" started out: "Some pundits ask whether America is ready for Obama. The much more important question is whether... more

The Right To Discriminate

By Walter E. Williams (Jun 02, 2010)

Rand Paul of Kentucky, U.S. Senate hopeful, is caught up in a swirl of controversy in response to his comments on MSNBC's "Rachel Maddow Show." He has been dishonestly... more

Minimum Wage Cruelty: Update

By Walter E. Williams (May 26, 2010)

"Minimum Wage Cruelty" (4/14/10) was my column about the unemployment effects of Congress' 2007 minimum wage increase on the canning industry in American Samoa, a U.S.... more

Immigration and Liberty

By Walter E. Williams (May 19, 2010)

My sentiments on immigration are expressed by the welcoming words of poet Emma Lazarus' that grace the base of our Statue of Liberty: "Give me your tired, your poor, your... more

Free Markets: Pro-Rich or Pro-Poor

By Walter E. Williams (May 12, 2010)

Listening to America's liberals, who now prefer to call themselves progressives, one would think that free markets benefit the rich and harm the poor, but little can be... more

Black Americans and Liberty

By Walter E. Williams (May 05, 2010)

Having recently reached 74 years of age, if one were to ask me what's my greatest disappointment in life, a top contender would surely be the level of misunderstanding,... more

Salt Tyrants

By Walter E. Williams (Apr 28, 2010)

Here's how my June 14, 2006 column started: "Down through the years, I've attempted to warn my fellow Americans about the tyrannical precedent and template for further... more

Taxes and Voting

By Walter E. Williams (Apr 21, 2010)

According to the Tax Policy Center, a Washington, D.C., research organization, nearly half of U.S. households will pay no federal income taxes for 2009. That's up from the... more

Minimum Wage Cruelty

By Walter E. Williams (Apr 14, 2010)

Which allows an American Samoan worker to have a higher standard of living: being employed at $3.26 per hour or unemployed at a wage scheduled to annually increase by 50... more

Parting Company

By Walter E. Williams (Apr 07, 2010)

Here's the question asked in my September 2000 column titled "It's Time To Part Company": "If one group of people prefers government control and management of people's lives... more

Conflict or Cooperation

By Walter E. Williams (Mar 31, 2010)

Different Americans have different and often intense preferences for all kinds of goods and services. Some of us have strong preferences for beer and distaste for wine while... more

Constitutional Awakening

By Walter E. Williams (Mar 24, 2010)

If there is anything good to say about Democrat control of the White House, Senate and House of Representatives, it's that their extraordinarily brazen, heavy-handed acts... more

The Warmers Strike Back

By Walter E. Williams (Mar 17, 2010)

Stephen Dinan's Washington Times article "Climate Scientist to Fight Back at Skeptics," (March 5, 2010) tells of a forthcoming campaign that one global warmer said needs to... more

Is Health Care a Right?

By Walter E. Williams (Mar 10, 2010)

Most politicians, and probably most Americans, see health care as a right. Thus, whether a person has the means to pay for medical services or not, he is nonetheless... more

Who Poses the Greater Threat?

By Walter E. Williams (Mar 03, 2010)

Bill Gates is the world's richest person, but what kind of power does he have over you? Can he force your kid to go to a school you do not want him to attend? Can he deny... more

Global Warming Update

By Walter E. Williams (Feb 24, 2010)

Private industry and governments around the world have spent trillions of dollars in the name of saving our planet from manmade global warming. Academic institutions, think... more

The Census and the Constitution

By Walter E. Williams (Feb 17, 2010)

The Census Bureau estimates that the life cycle cost of the 2010 Census will be from $13.7 billion to $14.5 billion, making it the costliest census in the nation's... more

Black Opportunity Destruction

By Walter E. Williams (Feb 10, 2010)

"Do you mean he is taller than me am?" sarcastically barked Dr. Martin Rosenberg, my high school English teacher, to one of the students in our class. The student actually... more

Global Warming Update

By Walter E. Williams (Feb 03, 2010)

John Coleman, founder of the Weather Channel, in an hour-long television documentary titled "Global Warming: The Other Side," presents evidence that our National Climatic... more

We Need Diversity

By Walter E. Williams (Jan 27, 2010)

It's not at all uncommon to watch a college basketball game and see that 90 to 100 percent of the players are black. According to the University of Central Florida's... more

Haiti's Avoidable Death Toll

By Walter E. Williams (Jan 20, 2010)

Some expect Haiti's 7.0 earthquake death toll to reach over 200,000 lives. Why the high death toll? Northern California's 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake was more violent,... more

Global Warming Is a Religion

By Walter E. Williams (Jan 13, 2010)

Manmade global warming, for many, is an Earth-worshipping religion. The essential feature of any religion is that its pronouncements are to be accepted on the basis of faith... more

Untrue Beliefs

By Walter E. Williams (Jan 06, 2010)

Here's a sample of last week's news reporting: "A new decade is about to start ...", "What better way to start a new year and decade ...", and "ABC 'World News' Decade... more