Walter Williams
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This article is about the economist, Walter Williams. Walter Williams is also the name of the SNL writer who created Mr. Bill. For the science fiction writer, see Walter Jon Williams.
Walter Frederick George Williams is the birth name of British actor, Bill Maynard.
Walter E. Williams (born 1936) is an American economist. He received his Ph.D. from the University of California, Los Angeles in 1972. He has been a Professor of Economics at George Mason University since 1980, and chairman of that University's Economic's department from 1995 to 2001. Previously, he has been on the faculty of Los Angeles City College, California State University - Los Angeles, Temple University, and Grove City College. Williams is known for his outspoken libertarian and sometimes conservative views. He is a popular columnist and author of books aimed at a general audience, and is a very popular occasional guest host of Rush Limbaugh's radio program.
Some fans consider it noteworthy that Williams is African-American but is conservative in his political beliefs. Williams is a champion of Black education, frequently indicting the educational systems of inner city schools for perpetuating, in his words, a fraud against African-American students and families by lowered standards. Williams is also an outspoken critic of the minimum wage and affirmative action, believing that both practices are detrimental to blacks. Williams especially emphasizes his belief that racism and the legacy of slavery in the United States are overemphasized as problems faced by the black community and do not adequately explain the situation blacks face.
Like most conservatives and libertarians, Williams criticizes gun control as endangering the innocent and failing to reduce crime.
Williams praises capitalism (of a laissez-faire variety) as being the most moral and most productive system man has ever devised. "Capitalism is relatively new in human history. Prior to capitalism, the way people amassed great wealth was by looting, plundering and enslaving their fellow man. Capitalism made it possible to become wealthy by serving your fellow man." [1] (http://www.gmu.edu/departments/economics/wew/articles/97/cap-comm.htm)
Williams has gone on record as advocating the Free State Project in at least two columns and once on television. The Williams endorsement correlated with the largest single membership jump in the first 5000 phase of the project, a jump even higher than the results of the project being Slashdotted.
In addition to dozens of articles and contribution to dozens of books, Williams has written the following books:
- The State Against Blacks
- America: a Minority Viewpoint
- All It Takes Is Guts
- South Africa's War Against Capitalism
- Do the Right Thing: The People's Economist Speaks
- More Liberty Means Less Government
External links
- His biography at GMU (http://www.gmu.edu/departments/economics/wew/vita.html)
- Syndicated articles (http://www.gmu.edu/departments/economics/wew/articles.html) (at townhall.com (http://www.townhall.com/columnists/walterwilliams/archive.shtml)) (rss feed (http://www.rapidfeeds.com/?fid=282))