Former ABC news anchor John Stossel spoke at the Emory School of Law yesterday about his career as a consumer reporter and his support for limited government involvement in the U.S. economy.

About 200 undergraduates, Law School students and professionals attended Stossel’s lecture, “Bashing Business.”

Stossel began his speech by explaining his “transformation” from a liberal to a libertarian which he said resulted from his years of involvement in economic affairs as a journalist.

Stossel started his career as a consumer reporter for a local news channel in New York and moved on to become consumer editor for ABC News.

He said his time spent uncovering bad business deals and alerting consumers of wrong-doings led to regulations in licensing and the creation of a Department of Consumer Affairs in New York.

Stossel said he eventually became skeptical of the need for regulation in the economic market.

After 10 years as a consumer reporter, he said he lost faith in the way the government was handling problems in the business world.

“I’m a little embarrassed at how long it took me to wake up and see that it didn’t work,” Stossel said. “So much of what I thought was true and obvious turned out to be wrong.”

Stossel explained he has become a proponent of the free market and supports minimal government involvement in economic affairs.

Stossel said increased regulation may intuitively sound good, but he said he believes it hurts consumers.

“It makes us less safe,” he said. “That’s counter-intuitive.”

Stossel used government involvement in illegal drugs as an example for the government’s inability to solve problems, saying that there are “unintended consequences of the law.”

He argued that making drugs illegal does not deter people from using them, and instead causes them to step around the law to do business.

The situation is comparable to the alcohol prohibition of the 1920s which led to the rise of Al Capone and the mafia, he said.

Stossel displayed a graph of the government’s increase in economic involvement over its history, which has risen to 40 percent of the Gross Domestic Product over the past few decades.

“I would say that the government spends their money like drunken sailors, but that would be an insult to drunken sailors,” he said.

A free economy would decide which businesses fail and which succeed, he said.
Stossel emphasized that adults should be able to make decisions for themselves without being coddled by the government.

“Isn’t that what the United States is supposed to be about?” Stossel asked. “Patrick Henry didn’t say, ‘Give me absolute safety or give me death.’”

The speech was followed by a question-and-answer session.

College junior Evan Delaney said he was surprised that Stossel’s speech did not cause intense reactions from the crowd.

“It was interesting that there were no controversial arguments raised in any of the questions,” Delaney said, “maybe he doesn’t create the same atmosphere as someone like David Horowitz.”

But Brian Ewart, a fourth-year law student, disagreed with Delaney and said Stossel’s speech has the potential to stir some controversy among students.

“I’m sure a lot of people would have thought some of the things he said were controversial, especially when he talked about legalizing drugs and that sort of thing,” Ewart said. “I thought [the speech] was good. I’ve always been pretty libertarian, myself, so most of it kept adding extra to my point of view.”

The Emory College Republicans and the Federalist Society co-hosted Wednesday’s event.

According to Emory College Republicans President and College junior Scott McAfee, Stossel was chosen to give the lecture because of his engaging speaking style and challenging ideas.

— Contact Jim Liepkalns.