Born in Philadelphia in 1936, Walter E. Williams holds a bachelor's degree in economics from California State University (1965) and a master's degree (1967) and doctorate (1972) in economics from the University of California at Los Angeles. In 1980, he joined the faculty of George Mason University in Fairfax, Va., and is currently the John M. Olin Distinguished Professor of Economics. He has also served on the faculties of Los Angeles City College (1967-69), California State University (1967-1971) and Temple University (1973-1980). From 1963 to 1967, he was a group supervisor of juvenile delinquents for the Los Angeles County Probation Department. More than 50 of his publications have appeared in scholarly journals such as Economic Inquiry, American Economic Review and Social Science Quarterly and popular publications such as Reader's Digest, The Wall Street Journal and Newsweek. He has made many TV and radio appearances on such programs as Milton Friedman's "Free to Choose," William F. Buckley's "Firing Line," "Face The Nation," "Nightline" and "Crossfire." He is also the author of several books. Among these are The State Against Blacks, later made into a television documentary, America: A Minority Viewpoint, All It Takes Is Guts, and South Africa's War On Capitalism. In 1981, he began writing his weekly column called "A Minority View" for Heritage Features Syndicate. And in 1991, he joined Creators Syndicate as part of its friendly takeover of Heritage Features. Williams sits on many advisory boards, including the Review Board of Economics Studies for the National Science Foundation, the Research Foundation, the National Tax Limitation Committee, the Taxpayer's Foundation and the Hoover Institution. The awards and honors Williams have received are many. These include the National Fellow at the Hoover Institute of War, Revolution, and Peace; the Ford Foundation Dissertation Fellowship; the National Service Award from the Institute for Socioeconomic Studies; and the George Washington Medal of Honor from the Valley Forge Freedom Foundation. In 1984-1985, he received the Faculty Member of the Year Award from the George Mason University Alumni. He is also a member of the American Economic Association, the Mont Pelerin Society and is a Distinguished Scholar of the Heritage Foundation. Williams participates in many debates and conferences, is a frequent public speaker and often gives testimony before both houses of Congress. http://www.townhall.com/columnists/WalterEWilliams http://media.townhall.com/TownHall/icons/TH-feed-icon-128x128.gif http://www.townhall.com/columnists/WalterEWilliams TownHall.com, Where your opinion counts. 128 Copyright (c) 2008 Townhall.com, A Salem Communications Web. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED jim.dearras@townhall.com (Jim De Arras) Wed, 02 Jul 2008 04:01:00 GMT Wed, 02 Jul 2008 04:01:00 GMT http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss RSS.NET: http://www.rssdotnet.com/ Why is it that mankind enjoys cell phones, computers and airplanes today but not when King Louis XIV was alive? The necessary physical resources to make cell phones, computers and airplanes have always been around,... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/WalterEWilliams/2008/07/02/the_ultimate_resource 61abb78c-8551-4171-bdcc-45a4c487d914 Wed, 02 Jul 2008 04:01:00 GMT I have no idea of the number of traffic signals in our country, but whatever the number, how many of my fellow Americans would like the U.S. Congress to be in charge of their operation? Congress, or a committee they... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/WalterEWilliams/2008/06/25/problem_of_ignorance d4c408a8-3e63-4cba-bccf-b04ba98ae981 Wed, 25 Jun 2008 04:01:00 GMT It's been at least five years since I've flown commercial, and for good reason: I don't wish to be arrested for questioning actions by often arrogant, rude Transportation Security Administration (TSA) workers. Two... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/WalterEWilliams/2008/06/18/airport_tyranny 788ef329-547a-4f7e-8fb2-90fbceee3a35 Wed, 18 Jun 2008 04:01:00 GMT Let's do a thought experiment asking whether Americans are for or against slavery. You might say, "What are you talking about, Williams? We fought a war that cost over 600,000 lives to end slavery!" To get started, we... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/WalterEWilliams/2008/06/11/are_americans_pro-slavery 93fbf26e-856f-47b6-ac96-16100fd3cf65 Wed, 11 Jun 2008 04:01:00 GMT What assumptions do congressmen make about the American people? Do they assume that we're dumb or ill-informed about the energy problems we are experiencing? Every time there has been a huge spike in gasoline prices,... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/WalterEWilliams/2008/06/04/dumb_or_ill-informed bc0c86ef-9a72-48c7-ab32-653effd33b25 Wed, 04 Jun 2008 04:01:00 GMT In searching for villains for rising food and oil prices, some commentators have turned to speculators, namely people trading on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange and similar exchanges around the world. A sample of the... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/WalterEWilliams/2008/05/28/futures_markets 72d4a138-1960-466d-9fc7-3fb9573d570c Wed, 28 May 2008 04:01:00 GMT Every time there's a highly publicized shooting, out go the cries for stricter gun control laws, and it was no different with the recent murder of Philadelphia Police Sgt. Stephen Liczbinski. Pennsylvania Gov. Ed... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/WalterEWilliams/2008/05/21/control_criminals_not_guns ec578585-b240-497c-af9e-3dc0ea8935b3 Wed, 21 May 2008 04:01:00 GMT Most of the great problems we face are caused by politicians creating solutions to problems they created in the first place. Politicians and a large percentage of the public lose sight of the unavoidable fact that for... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/WalterEWilliams/2008/05/14/congressional_problem_creation 21db1f2e-6cd6-471f-a1b7-770f00a92b09 Wed, 14 May 2008 04:01:00 GMT Now that another Earth Day has come and gone, let's look at some environmentalist predictions that they would prefer we forget. At the first Earth Day celebration, in 1969, environmentalist Nigel Calder warned, "The... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/WalterEWilliams/2008/05/07/environmentalists_wild_predictions 7108c9fa-22cb-4de9-be67-f00082f8271e Wed, 07 May 2008 04:01:00 GMT While it's politically popular to impose confiscatory taxes on America's 40 million tobacco smokers, there are a number of consequences one might consider, but let's start out with a quiz. If a carton of cigarettes... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/WalterEWilliams/2008/04/30/cigarette_smuggling e5cf3993-9a77-4097-87b5-6a23b6bf2398 Wed, 30 Apr 2008 04:01:00 GMT Dr. Thomas Sowell's recent column, "Republicans and Blacks," (April 10, 2008) pointed out the foolhardiness of Republican strategy to secure more black votes. He pointed out that it is a losing strategy to reach... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/WalterEWilliams/2008/04/23/politics_and_black_americans 204408fe-4512-4c90-b1ca-6a103061b5fb Wed, 23 Apr 2008 04:01:00 GMT Presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, pandering to anti-trade activists, suggest that should they become president, they will restrict trade agreements. Before you buy into their promised... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/WalterEWilliams/2008/04/16/foreign_trade_angst 0299df10-7db8-4fcd-b891-5a2ad68891de Wed, 16 Apr 2008 04:01:00 GMT Do any of the prospective nominees of either party deserve respect from the American people? The answer partially depends on your knowledge, values and respect for the U.S Constitution. When either Barack Obama,... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/WalterEWilliams/2008/04/09/political_loathsomeness 080c1b65-87bf-4b56-8cf2-561f10c7b431 Wed, 09 Apr 2008 04:01:00 GMT The psychology of victimhood and the politics of envy are powerful political tools and we see them being exploited this political season. Politicians telling Americans how bad off we are reminds me of one of Aesop's... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/WalterEWilliams/2008/04/02/the_poverty_hype d36b3ec3-caef-40b4-b300-b72b7bcbf68f Wed, 02 Apr 2008 04:01:00 GMT Some pundits ask whether America is ready for Obama. The much more important question is whether Obama is ready for America and even more important is whether black people can afford Obama. Let's look at it in the... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/WalterEWilliams/2008/03/26/is_obama_ready_for_america 07f88c9e-197a-44db-ad7c-77388554fab1 Wed, 26 Mar 2008 04:01:00 GMT