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, 03 Sep 2008 04:01:00 GMT Wed, 03 Sep 2008 04:01:00 GMT http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss RSS.NET: http://www.rssdotnet.com/ Which serves the interests of the black community better: a black student admitted to a top-tier law school, such as Harvard, Stanford or Yale, and winds up in the bottom 10 percent of his class, flunks out, or cannot... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/WalterEWilliams/2008/09/03/academic_mismatch_i 6880987b-4b00-4bda-b57b-5cc08028c8b0 Wed, 03 Sep 2008 04:01:00 GMT As parents pack their youngsters off to college, they might ask themselves whether it's worth both the money they will spend and their children's time. Dr. Marty Nemko has researched that question in an article aptly... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/WalterEWilliams/2008/08/27/is_college_worth_it 68c90b54-6366-4b4f-af71-a8a1779de107 Wed, 27 Aug 2008 04:01:00 GMT By taking a couple of courses in economic theory, we could immunize ourselves from nonsense spouted by politicians and pundits, but in the meantime check out Professor John R. Lott's "Freedomnomics: Why the Free Market... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/WalterEWilliams/2008/08/20/economic_myths 02ff9990-a831-4530-a936-d4543d8e81ce Wed, 20 Aug 2008 04:01:00 GMT Most people know the tragic state of black education today. We know that billions of dollars are spent on federal government programs such as No Child Left Behind and the billions spent by state and local governments.... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/WalterEWilliams/2008/08/13/patterns_of_black_excellence 750391ee-1f64-44e2-9657-1f4bd8f284d8 Wed, 13 Aug 2008 04:01:00 GMT Edgar K. Browning, professor of economics at Texas A&M University, has a new book aptly titled "Stealing from Each Other." Its subtitle, "How the Welfare State Robs Americans of Money and Spirit," goes to the heart of... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/WalterEWilliams/2008/08/06/a_nation_of_thieves e52643d2-b34c-47fd-82c6-0e837e5cf0a8 Wed, 06 Aug 2008 04:01:00 GMT Let's face it. The average individual American has little or no clout with Congress and can be safely ignored. But it's a different story with groups such as Environmental Defense Fund, Sierra Club and The Nature... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/WalterEWilliams/2008/07/30/environmentalists_hold_on_congress 99c73706-0957-4619-9dcf-cf7ac7a71180 Wed, 30 Jul 2008 04:01:00 GMT "Hard Times at Douglass High," is an HBO documentary that aired last June. It captured much of the 2004-2005 school year at Baltimore's predominantly black Frederick Douglass High School. The tragedy is that what is... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/WalterEWilliams/2008/07/23/black_education f716f7cf-e7a3-4bc0-94fd-e4ee802dbb80 Wed, 23 Jul 2008 04:01:00 GMT One of the unappreciated casualties of the War of 1861, erroneously called a Civil War, was its contribution to the erosion of constitutional guarantees of state sovereignty. It settled the issue of secession, making... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/WalterEWilliams/2008/07/16/oklahoma_rebellion 1045d11e-e322-43e0-8eb1-f3a38345cc67 Wed, 16 Jul 2008 04:01:00 GMT Despite Congress' periodic hauling of weak-kneed oil executives before their committees to charge them with collusion and price-gouging, subsequent federal investigations turn up no evidence to support the charges.... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/WalterEWilliams/2008/07/09/scapegoating_speculators 4e2beeb6-9667-4694-b254-d21f952009c2 Wed, 09 Jul 2008 04:01:00 GMT 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 All of us should give some serious thought to some of the ideas contained in an article circulating the blogsphere titled "Why a Peaceful Majority is Irrelevant." So often our political leaders, "experts" and talking... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/WalterEWilliams/2008/03/19/peace-loving_muslims f2b9cc0e-2ead-48b6-ae22-46d9ea99f3fa Wed, 19 Mar 2008 04:01:00 GMT One of the many mandates of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 calls for oil companies to increase the amount of ethanol mixed with gasoline. President Bush said, during his 2006 State of the Union address, "America is... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/WalterEWilliams/2008/03/12/big_corn_and_ethanol_hoax a37eec06-5e45-414e-9a90-59e4ad860b86 Wed, 12 Mar 2008 04:01:00 GMT A fortnight ago, I wrote about Mississippi Legislature House Bill 282 that would have imposed fines or revoked licenses of food establishments that served obese people. Fortunately, the measure died in committee.... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/WalterEWilliams/2008/03/05/liberty_versus_socialism 7428cede-1f39-4085-bc5c-ef1db7cae3f3 Wed, 05 Mar 2008 05:01:00 GMT President Bush's trip to Africa and promise of increased foreign aid will do little or nothing to solve the ongoing tragedy in most places on the south-of-Sahara African continent. Kenya is on the brink of a civil... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/WalterEWilliams/2008/02/27/africa_a_tragic_continent 10a3ac04-a470-44c7-bc3d-4132b4deb93c Wed, 27 Feb 2008 05:01:00 GMT If we look to benefits only, we'll do darn near anything because there's always a benefit. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reported that there were 43,443 highway fatalities in 2005. If we had a... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/WalterEWilliams/2008/02/20/costs_vs_benefits 84a88219-d1ce-4bb9-839f-a195d6383c6b Wed, 20 Feb 2008 05:01:00 GMT My February 2002 column, "They're Coming After You," warned that Americans who enthusiastically supported the anti-tobacco zealots' attack on smokers were, like decent Germans did during the 1920s and '30s, building... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/WalterEWilliams/2008/02/13/theyre_coming_after_you 2c22cbc7-0e31-4d1f-aa41-1e2e68814977 Wed, 13 Feb 2008 05:01:00 GMT It's not easy being me. I'm disturbed by statements that many Americans accept or don't question that are ludicrous, if not crazy. The terms "change," "agents of change" and "change agents" are being bandied by... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/WalterEWilliams/2008/02/06/silly_talk 1c4ebc00-5f81-48d0-bb6d-6e3dd082c56e Wed, 06 Feb 2008 05:01:00 GMT Some Democratic and Republican presidential hopefuls are preaching economic doom and gloom, disappearing middle class, and failing health care industry. What's their solution? The short answer is give them more... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/WalterEWilliams/2008/01/30/stimulus_package_nonsense 4676f17d-c410-4d4e-83d1-961a68b8ecb2 Wed, 30 Jan 2008 05:01:00 GMT A subprime lender is one who makes loans to borrowers who do not qualify for loans from mainstream lenders. It's a market that has evolved to permit borrowers with poor credit history and an unstable financial... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/WalterEWilliams/2008/01/23/subprime_bailout 26222c65-01a1-4bea-a1a2-a6e59a0d856e Wed, 23 Jan 2008 05:01:00 GMT Last December, President Bush signed an energy bill that will ban the sale of Edison's incandescent bulb, starting with the 100-watt bulb in 2012 and ending with the 40-watt bulb by 2014. You say, "Hey, Williams,... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/WalterEWilliams/2008/01/16/tyranny_update 5143f60e-121d-4717-8eb1-f0ac24ca2cfd Wed, 16 Jan 2008 05:01:00 GMT The Lincoln Review, a Washington-based black think tank, published an article titled "What Does the Future Hold for Historically Black Colleges?" in its September/October 2007 edition. It recalled the expe http://www.townhall.com/columnists/WalterEWilliams/2008/01/09/black_colleges 6bdc195f-b697-4a2c-9e5a-5568e14639ac Wed, 09 Jan 2008 05:01:01 GMT Demagoguery about greedy rich people or greedy corporate executives being paid 100 or 200 times their workers' salaries is a key weapon in the politics of envy. Let's talk about greed, starting off with... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/WalterEWilliams/2008/01/02/greed,_need_and_money 4d03ce2a-51d7-49ad-9d76-ca6780fc2bda Wed, 02 Jan 2008 05:01:00 GMT If you're like I am, you've heard scores of media reports about the 2006 Duke University rape case, in which three white lacrosse players were falsely accused of raping a black stripper at a wild party at the home of... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/WalterEWilliams/2007/12/26/hiding_black_interracial_crimes b652d04d-1dac-4435-8f1b-4f8c6f0ffef4 Wed, 26 Dec 2007 05:01:00 GMT Every three years, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) conducts its Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA). PISA is a set of tests that measure 15-year-olds'... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/WalterEWilliams/2007/12/19/academic_slums 29654ef0-1726-4cf8-ac3e-fd1980a69699 Wed, 19 Dec 2007 05:01:00 GMT Last May, firefighters at a Baltimore, Md., fire station came under scrutiny for displaying a deer with an afro wig, gold tooth, gold chain and a cigarette hanging from its mouth. Marvin "Doc" Cheatham, president... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/WalterEWilliams/2007/12/12/racial_hoaxes_and_the_naacp b9356827-7c44-4c35-a902-cf8c7116f4ac Wed, 12 Dec 2007 05:01:00 GMT Listening to people like Lou Dobbs, John Edwards and Mike Huckabee lamenting the plight of America's middle class and poor, you'd have to conclude that things are going to hell in a handbasket. According to them,... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/WalterEWilliams/2007/12/05/income_mobility cc12cd16-0b1c-4523-b620-4f932e6e167d Wed, 05 Dec 2007 05:01:00 GMT Some people complain about bitter partisan politics. I welcome it. The greater the number of decisions made in the political arena the greater the conflict. Let's look at it by way of a few examples: I like the... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/WalterEWilliams/2007/11/28/bitter_partisan_politics 35d7dbb9-0804-494d-9cd8-ce10e89af4a7 Wed, 28 Nov 2007 05:01:00 GMT The "greatest generation" is a term sometimes used in reference to those Americans who were raised during the Great Depression, fought in World War II, worked in farms and factories and sacrificed for the war effort... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/WalterEWilliams/2007/11/21/the_greatest_generation ed93f0d6-75be-4f4f-8971-85d345874c6b Wed, 21 Nov 2007 05:01:00 GMT An important component of the leftist class warfare agenda is to condemn President Bush's tax cuts for the rich. This claim is careless, ignorant or dishonest on at least two counts. First there's the constitutional... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/WalterEWilliams/2007/11/14/congressional_and_leftist_lies 867dd03a-c06b-4ab4-be21-558565730128 Wed, 14 Nov 2007 05:01:00 GMT In last month's column "Academic Cesspools," I wrote about "Indoctrinate U," a recently released documentary exposing egregious university indoctrination of young people at prestigious and not-so-prestigious... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/WalterEWilliams/2007/11/07/academic_cesspools_ii 207db242-116e-4a34-971d-c9f3d85337e0 Wed, 07 Nov 2007 05:01:00 GMT People who want more government income redistribution programs often sell their agenda with the lament, "The poor are getting poorer and the rich are getting richer," but how about some evidence and you decide? I... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/WalterEWilliams/2007/10/31/are_the_poor_getting_poorer 333f8273-bf02-43d7-930d-b129fb2b2cc3 Wed, 31 Oct 2007 04:01:00 GMT Here's the oath of office administered to members of the House and Senate: "I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign or... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/WalterEWilliams/2007/10/24/congressional_constitutional_contempt 95c455ab-718c-42fa-ab45-df0f7e48d593 Wed, 24 Oct 2007 04:01:00 GMT The average taxpayer and parents who foot the bill know little about the rot on many college campuses. "Indoctrinate U" is a recently released documentary, written and directed by Evan Coyne Maloney, that captures the... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/WalterEWilliams/2007/10/17/academic_cesspools f57ba46a-f5dc-40a7-866a-f5a160a7b384 Wed, 17 Oct 2007 04:01:00 GMT The major news media no longer have the monopoly they once enjoyed. The way millions of Americans get their news and news analysis is through talk radio. The Rush Limbaugh Show stands at the very top of talk radio,... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/WalterEWilliams/2007/10/10/attacking_talk_radio bc81d38b-4352-48af-b38e-f4cc71ffe336 Wed, 10 Oct 2007 04:01:47 GMT NOTE TO WALTER WILLIAMS READERS: THE FOLLOWING COLUMN CONTAINS LANGUAGE AND REFERENCES TO LANGUAGE THAT MAY BE OFFENSIVE TO SOME READERS. THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION. Five police "mini-stations" will be located... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/WalterEWilliams/2007/10/03/betrayal_of_the_civil_rights_struggle 6c0fc05f-8bad-408d-a7f5-c4e50451ed18 Wed, 03 Oct 2007 04:01:01 GMT Despite increasing evidence that man-made CO2 is not a significant greenhouse gas and contributor to climate change, politicians and others who wish to control our lives must maintain that it is. According to the... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/WalterEWilliams/2007/09/26/global_warming_hysteria 24cdd751-d5da-4f0a-9687-95ca47b1e4c7 Wed, 26 Sep 2007 04:01:00 GMT