The John Stossel Interviews

Who owns you? Government often acts like they own us. But lawyer Tim Sandefur of the Goldwater Institute reminds us, we own ourselves.“People should not have power over other people’s lives,” says Sandefur. His book, You Don’t Own Me, talks about that, and how popular culture often reflects this message.“Ours is a nation where the individual’s right to pursue happiness is written into it’s foundat...

Politicians say they can “fix” the economy. But economists Friedrich Hayek and Ludwig von Mises pointed out how government “fixes" lead to bigger problems. Hayek and Mises predicted the fall of the Soviet Union. They warned that centrally planned economies fail. But today, socialism is popular again. New York and Seattle have elected socialist mayors. Many politicians still believe that gover...

“I'm going to speak the truth here, and this is not pleasant for people to hear.” In my podcast with author Heather Mac Donald, she says uncomfortable things about race, crime, feminism and more. For example, she says, “The reality of our world today is not white privilege. It's black privilege.” She says many jobs and colleges today unfairly favor black candidates with fewer skills. “Harv...

During the last 5 years our government has imposed lockdowns, caused inflation, increased the deficit, started trade wars, and now a real war. It makes me wonder; how would things have been different if we had a libertarian President? Well, here’s my discussion with 2020’s libertarian Presidential candidate, Jo Jorgensen. We originally spoke 5 years ago, but our conversation covers issues that are...

I don’t bother interviewing most politicians. But former presidential candidate Andrew Yang is interesting. Unlike most politicians, he has experience as an entrepreneur, he criticizes politicians for their "magical thinking," and he even left his party (the Democrats) to start the "Forward Party." I spoke to him in 2021, soon after its launch. We discuss if a third party could...

Are we witnessing the fall of the American empire? Are we doomed to fall, like Ancient Athens, Ancient Rome and others? No. But if we don’t learn the lessons of history, we could be. To avoid collapse, historian Johan Norberg argues we especially need to learn from the rise and fall of past golden ages—like Ancient Athens, Ancient Rome, China’s Song Dynasty, the Italian Renaissance, and more. “Wha...

I once reported how great Wikipedia is. But now, it’s manipulated by leftists. That’s a big problem because its bad information corrupts AI and search results. In this podcast, Ashley Rindsberg of NPOV Media explains how, “Wikipedia's information spreads into everything online.” That means when your ask ChatGPT, Google, or your phone a question, it’ll likely to take leftist spin straight from...

“You can’t put a price on life!” say politicians, pretending to be compassionate, spending other people’s money. But Kenneth Feinberg, Special Master of the 9/11 Victim Compensation Fund, says you CAN put a price on life. He's distributed funds to the victims of 9/11, the Pulse nightclub shooting, the Boston Marathon, the Deepwater Horizon spill, the Virginia Tech shooting, the Aurora movie th...

"If your kids went through puberty on a smartphone with social media, they came out different than human beings before” says Jonathan Haidt, author of the bestseller “The Anxious Generation.”He argues that childhood is now phone-based instead of play-based, resulting in anxious and depressed kids. "They know that life would be better if they didn't spend five or six hours a day on so...

Young people today hate capitalism. They often say socialism would be better. It's absurd. Why would they argue that? Because much of what they're told about socialism and capitalism is just nonsense. So in this podcast, we'll debunk 5 of the biggest myths about socialism, and even more myths about capitalism.

James Lindsay once exposed the woke left’s insanity with a hoax. Now he’s exposed part of the right for bashing liberty and even embracing Marxist ideas. To prove it, he sent a conservative magazine a revised version of "The Communist Manifesto." They published it! He calls them the “woke right" because they "behave like the tyrants of the woke left." In this podcast, Lind...

Activist Robby Starbuck got companies like Target, Walmart, and Toyota to drop their woke DEI policies. It sounds hard to believe one man could do that, but he did. From DEI trainings to mandatory "ally" pledges, Starbuck posts videos about absurd woke things that big companies do behind closed doors to please activists. In this podcast, he explains how this fight against corporate Ameri...

Charles Ryu escaped from North Korea not once, but twice! He experienced starvation, torture, and years of propaganda. North Koreans, even those who escape, fear talking about socialist tyranny because the regime might kill their families. “Not just you, but your entire three generations will be wiped out,” explains Ryu. He is only willing to talk because he has no immediate family left in the cou...

People who run businesses are often smeared. But they shouldn't be. “Making our lives better is what entrepreneurs do. We take it all for granted,” says Yaron Brook, Chair of the Ayn Rand Institute. In this hour-long conversation, Brook defends the marketplace and the self-interest that drives it. He also carves out the path of self-interest through mountains of big issues: war, poverty, immigrati...

Professor John McWhorter, author of "Woke Racism," argues that condescending leftist ideology hurts black people. We spoke a few years ago when few others were pushing back on those ideas. But I learned a lot from my half-hour interview with him, so here's our full discussion. For one, the Columbia linguist points out "Woke Racism" hurts black people in many ways: from treating them as incapable o...

Michael Malice, the popular podcaster and author, reminds us that tyranny can be defeated. It’s been done before. In this podcast, Malice shares stories of life under totalitarian regimes, and explains how the media was often complicit in totalitarianism. Malice’s distrust in government is why he’s calls himself an anarchist. He makes the case that things like food, education, and even security, a...

Here's my full interview with NSA Whistleblower Edward Snowden--it’s the longest interview I've ever posted. I once was unsure if Edward Snowden--who leaked documents showing that the NSA spied on Americans--was a hero, or a traitor who made us all less safe. Now I've done my research, and I think he's a hero. What do you think? Our full interview, above, will help you decide.

Media and politicians constantly warn about the dangers of firearms. They say too many people have guns. But Black Guns Matters founder Maj Toure says there should be more guns! “Everybody should be walking around and like, oh man, I left my gun in the house. Let me go back and get it,” says Toure. “Everybody?” I ask. “Everybody.” He says that would make America freer and safer, especially in blac...

I usually don't like to interview politicians but Senator Rand Paul is different. He actually has interesting and important things to say. In this podcast, we discuss his book, The Case Against Socialism. We cover socialism's failure in Venezuela, the myth of "Scandinavian socialism," and more.

Parents are more scared than ever. The media warn of “Stranger Danger.” Lenore Skenazy says this is foolish. Parents should let their kids be MORE independent. She calls it “Free Range” parenting. She says kids are healthier when given unsupervised freedom. Parents are happier too. But what about the kidnappings? Skenazy points out those are extremely rare. It’s MUCH safer for kids to walk outside...

Tim Pool is a very successful journalist. He has millions of subscribers on multiple channels. But Pool never went to journalism school. In fact, he didn’t even finish high school. Unlike most reporters, Pool became respected just by doing it--going to the news, and covering things the mainstream media often miss. He’s reported from global hotspots, gone into the middle of riots, and exposed media...

Trump recently picked Tulsi Gabbard to be his Director of National Intelligence. What are her views? Well 5 years ago—when Gabbard was still a Democrat—I interviewed her. She was running for President at the time and was clearly different from her competition. For one, unlike most Democrats, she agreed to talk with me. So here’s our full conversation.

This podcast is with…. GASP!…. a sex worker. Her name is Aella, and her career path is surprising. She’s made a lot of money performing for men online, and being an escort. But she's also an outspoken libertarian. “I just knew that freedom was really important,” she tells me. Now she’s paid to do research. Her surveys are unconventional, including something she calls a “rape spectrum." Here's our...

Open speech is under attack around the world. Canada’s Rebel News founder Ezra Levant warns what might happen if we lose free speech in America. He points out that politicians in Canada plan to punish "hate speech" with life in prison. In England and Scotland, you can already get arrested for “hateful” posts. There, J.K. Rowling fights back – breaking Scotland’s law on purpose, daring police to ar...

This is my full interview with controversial psychologist Jordan Peterson. Protesters tried to shout him down, but they failed. Now millions buy his books about finding meaning in responsibility. Why do people -- especially young people -- eagerly buy books about responsibility? "There's just an absolute starvation for the other side of the story," Peterson says. "There are no rights, technically...