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Info: Our guest is the John M. Olin Distinguished Professor of Economics at George Mason University, syndicated columnist and author Walter Williams. Williams discusses his libertarian views and tells the story of how he came to be a substitute host for the nationally syndicated Rush Limbaugh radio show. He describes growing up in the Richard Allen Housing Project in north Philadelphia, and the segregation issues he confronted after being drafted in the Army in 1959. Professor Williams teaches microeconomic theory at George Mason University in Fairfax Virginia. He talks about his rigorous expectations for students, and shares information on the origins of his teaching endowment from the Olin Foundation. He points out that it is “academically dishonest” for professors such as himself to share personal political views in the classroom. He states that social security in The United States has no “constitutional authority.” He says social security is a bad deal for Americans because the rate of return is very low and it penalizes people who have less money by redistributing it to those who have more. He also talks about his position that Americans should be allowed to sell their own organs as an issue of private property rights.
