John Stossel

I was surprised to read (in The Los Angeles Times) that the Biden administration's "role model for America" is... California! He wants to "Make America California." That's is a terrible idea. Californians now rush to move out of California. Some hopeful folks still move there, but so many more leave that California now loses more than 10,000 citizens every month. In fact, the state…

Did you take the SATs to try to get into college? Your kids may not have to. More than 1,300 schools have become "test optional," meaning students need not submit SAT scores. Some, like the entire University of California system, now won't even look at scores. There are seemingly legitimate reasons to oppose the tests. Richer kids often get tutoring that gives them an advantage. Critics claim…

Before dawn, dozens of union activists invaded a strawberry farm, shouting through bullhorns. This frightened workers and infuriated the farm's owner, Mike Fahner, who thought that in America, owning property means you have a right to control access to that property -- your home is your castle, and all that. Not in California, where politicians allow union organizers to raid farms. "If I didn'…

Oscar nominees were announced this week. The AP highlighted the record number of nominations of “actors of color ” and “a record year for women.” Today, such declarations are important in this “woke” media world. Future Oscars will have actual quotas for minority groups. Actor David Oyelowo praised the new standards, saying, “Anyone and everyone who is on that list of marginalized groups that…

The vaccine rollout crawls forward. Most of us will spend weeks, or months, waiting. Great Britain did better. As of today, one-third of the English are already vaccinated, twice as many as in America. Why? A big reason is that our government decided to rigidly follow its regimen for the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines: two doses, about a month apart. But why insist on two doses? The Moderna and…

Politicians have too much power over our lives. Many used the pandemic as another excuse to take more. Early on, politicians declared that they would decide who was "essential." Everyone else was told to stay home. Much of the economy stopped. Millions were laid off. Then politicians relaxed the rules for industries that they deemed "essential." "You can't just call somebody essential without…

Today's environmental activists are so hostile to capitalism that they end up killing animals they want to protect. Like the African rhinoceros. Poachers kill them to get their horns, which can sell for as much as $300,000. Poachers mostly sell in China and Vietnam, to people who carve them into ornaments or sell them as aphrodisiacs. By the way: The aphrodisiacs don't work.

I love my digital devices, but people keep telling me to worry more about my privacy. "Encrypt your emails!" "Drop Google and use search engines like DuckDuckGo that don't track us!" I probably should. But I don't. I'm lazy, and I like that web companies know me and show me things I'm interested in. I like that they display "restaurants near me."

People hate America's big disparities in wealth. It's a reason why, among young people, socialism is as popular as capitalism. The Democratic Socialists of America want a country based on "freedom, equality and solidarity." That sure sounds good. But does socialism bring that? My new video debunks several myths about socialism. One reason for socialism's continued appeal is linguist Noam…

Joe Biden says he'll "advance racial equity" by making "bold investments" in "Affordable Housing," aiding "businesses owned by Black and Brown people," establishing an "Equity Commission," etc. Gosh, that'll do it. Others demand reparations for slavery, more social programs and defunding the police. Yet, economist Thomas Sowell says, "I haven't been able to find a single country in the world…

Is your child's school open now? Probably not -- because teachers unions say that reopening would "put their health and safety at risk." They keep schools closed by lobbying and protesting. "If I die from catching COVID-19 from being forced back into Pinellas County Schools, you can drop my dead body right here!" shouts one demonstrator in my new video. But schools rarely spread COVID-19.…

Was 2020 the worst year ever? The media keep saying that. We did have the pandemic, a bitter election, unemployment, riots and a soaring national debt. But wait, look at the good news, says historian Johan Norberg. His new book, "Open: The Story of Human Progress," points out how life keeps getting better, even if people just don't realize it. 2020 was "the best year in human history to face a…

Want to make money and help the world, too? Wall Street says you can! If you invest in "socially responsible" funds, say big investment funds like BlackRock, Parnassus, TIAA-CREF, etc., then they'll do good things for the world, and your retirement funds will grow. These funds obsess about what they call Environmental, Social and Governance factors. For example, Parnassus says it picks…

Many of us will give money to charity this month. Americans give more than any other people in the world. Good for us. 56 years ago, because American charities hadn't ended poverty, politicians said they would end it. They declared a "war on poverty." That "war," so far, has cost $27 trillion. Some people were helped. But the handouts also had a bad effect.