John Stossel joined FOX Business and FOX News in October 2009. His show, Stossel, airs on the Fox Business Network on Thursdays at 9 PM and midnight ET. It re-runs Fridays at 10 p.m., Saturdays at 9 p.m. and 12 midnight, and Sundays at 10 p.m. (all times eastern).
He is the New York Times best-selling author of Give Me A Break and Myths, Lies and Downright Stupidity. His "Give Me a Break" commentaries take a skeptical look at a wide array of issues, such as education, the economy, parenting, and more.
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Jonathan Halsey
Obama pledges $100,000,000 for Haiti but 300 times more than that to prosecute our wars next year! Madness.
Nan in Can
Amen to! Tragedy is graver where freedom and prosperity have been hampered by corrupt govts. Haitians have proven to be hard workers who succeed well whenever they immigrate to countries with freer economies so the problem originates with their govt's corrupt and oppressive hand. To quote the Bible, "It is for freedom that you have been set free..." Haiti hails from a successful slave rebellion. But a greedy and corrupt govt. merely enslaved them again, but to govt. and thereby to poverty.
Fox_is_Fraud
Could you be more ignorant??? The geological analogy is specious, to say the least. Just imagine, for example, a major hurricane, say Katrina, hitting New Orleans, without modern satellite technology having given some kind of warning and hence a great number of people having evacuated in advance. You're doing a heck of a job Stossel.
Tom in Maine
yes - economic freedom does save lives. America is a great example of what can happen when economic freedom thrives. What the world needs is more of that. Check out this utube link with MFriedman and PDonohue - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RWsx1X8PV_A we should not down the US when we see other countries poverty, we should be helping them become more like us, meaning economically free. Look at India/Asia - that is what is working there.
Josh
titus pullo .. you are an idiot. that was a stupid comment . socialist or not america has money. look at the the rebar in the jacked up buildings... the structural integrity of those buildings was a disaster waiting to happen. america has spent billions on earthquake research and how to build better and safer buildings . sorry titus but based on that last comment your a moron
LAD
To be fair, this is one area where government regulation has made a positive difference. California's building codes are more stringent than elsewhere because of the earthquake risk. Since most occupants of buildings are unable to efficiently test the structural integrity of the buildings they occupy, this is an area of regulation that is necessary and helpful. It's rare, but it does happen sometimes.
Kyle
Very well said Mr. Stossel. A great observation.
CGN
Stossel is an idoit. Not only are the geologic facts different here (Haiti quake was much closer to the surface the epicenter much closer to the city) but the so called free market in SF has strict building codes that must be adhered to. A combination of luck and "oppresssve government" made the SF less deadly.
Guest
Let's face it, the Haitians were more interested in voodoo and AIDS than building a society along Western industrial lines. That didn't help.
Wendy
Ditto John!
Jim M.
John Stossel.....the chief reason there was such a small loss of life in San Francisco was the very thing that you so abhore......government. Government which etablished and enforced building codes that the cost of which the free market would have never expended and first responders equipped and trained by ....yes government. One other thought John.....I know that you have to simplify things for the intellectual simpletons you pander to, but at least try not to insult basic intelligence.
Thorium
Thank you John for making the point. It made me recall an article in Reason Magazine of a few years ago which discussed why some countries are poor. I dug around a moment ago on the Reason web site and found it: http://reason.com/archives/2006/03/01/why-poor-countries-are-poor.
Titus Pullo
San Francisco IS a socialist area, John.
jpd58
Also, experience is a great teacher. The devastating earthquakes of the past in California have taught us to be smarter in contructing our buildings. Hopefully, Haiti can be rebuilt again, also stronger/smarter.
Rick
What happened is a terrible tragedy, but I don't see socialist countries like Cuba and Venezuela coming to help these folks out. Socialism is suppose to make everyone equal while freedom and capitalism allows everyone to prosper; but not equally. Freedom allows the US to be prosperous and the American people are the most generous in the world. I hope we stay that way. The rest of the world depends on it
Thomas J. Navin
Amen! The Federal Government tends to eff-up everything they do.
Jim
USA has given Haiti billions in aid in the last five years. I worry that the aid ultimately hurts their small economy by decimating markets and further entrenching and corrupting their political system because it is injected from the top rather than at the local level where commerce starts. If economists understand how markets work, why do we give foreign aid to the government? It can not work that way. Mr. Boudreaux is a joy to read.