• Are Veterans Freeloaders?

      Posted by John Stossel | May 10, 2011

      After my FBN show last week, where I let critics of my FREELOADERS show talk back, I got this e-mail:

       

      Dear Mr. Stossel,

      I am a veteran who is rated and compensated as 100% disabled.

      Do you, and Libertarians in general view me as a "freeloader;" and should I not be compensated according to your views of this situation?

      Like your show, and I am truly curious. While I register as a Democrat, I'm probably a Libertarian at heart.

      Regards,

      Stephen Chase

       

      I responded:

      No, Stephen, if you are 100% disabled, I do not consider you a freeloader, I consider you: compensated.

       

      Of course, the VA is another clumsy government bureaucracy, and I have little faith they make good judgments when deciding who needs help, and who freeloads. Today's Washington Post calls the agency "obstructionist, antiquated and overwhelmed."

       

      TAGS
      Freeloaders
      Veterans
      Government Bureaucracy

    • JOHN HAS A NEW BOOK! ORDER TODAY

    This Week's Show -- June 13, 2013

    Stossel's parents were born in Germany. They couldn't find work in Europe so they came to pursue the American Dream. But odds are they wouldn't be able to come here today.

     

    While America does give visas to some high -killed workers, there are quotas that limit the number, and it's complex. So much so that Canada pays for billboards near Silicon Valley promoting their own visa system.

     

    Canada's immigration boss even went to California to recruit smart workers.

     

    40% of America's biggest companies were founded by immigrants or their kids. Companies like Apple, Budweiser, Colgate, IBM, McDonalds. In the high tech field, companies like Google and Yahoo, its 60%.

     

    As a libertarian, Stossel hopes that Congress comes to some agreement on immigration- let people come! There should be free trade in labor as well as goods and services, that way everyone is freer ... and richer.

     

    However some foreigners want to murder us. And since America now is a welfare state, some want to come here to freeload.

     

    One response is to "seal the border." Special Correspondent Kennedy went down to the border and found the fence riddled with holes.

     

    Policing illegal immigration would be much easier if we didn't have so many laws, and such restrictive laws.

     

    Immigrants are people with the ambition and guts to leave their homes to pursue the American dream. Stossel says, if people want to come here to work, we should let them.

     

     

    Connect with Stossel

    About Stossel's Take

    Stossel hosts a new show dissecting the news of the day and its effect on your wallet. Plus, the latest scams, hidden fees and other ways companies take advantage of consumers.