[jsmith48]

"In 1962, Friedman published Capitalism and Freedom, a set of policy discussions about which he made himself -- as he usually does -- crystal clear. Is the book utopian? No. The discussions are quite balanced, and Friedman admits several roles for the state, as well as putting forth his opinions on the benefits and costs of various policy options"

Friedman is anything BUT "utopian", I would say he's probably the most grounded in his field.

It's also cute how these so-called "experts" avoid mentioning Greenspan in their little rants- now there is a hardcore capitalist.

[martin_fierro]

Is Milton Friedman a Utopian?

In a perfect world, he would be.

< |:)~

[untenured]

Interesting. There is a natural tendency among people to assume that (1) "moderation" should be defined as the middle range between no government and totalitarian government, and (2) moderate compromise avoids the worst of both worlds, so that the sensible person must be moderate. That's why it's so common in American poliics to try to paint the other guys as "extreme," "out of the mainstream," etc.

It was the genius of Hayek (and less so Friedman, AFAIK) to note that government itself is immoderate, because of its informational deficiencies. The moderate thing to do is to let millions of competitive experiments be conducted one market exchange at a time. A sort of evolutionary pressure then weeds out the bad experiments and keeps the good ones. With government planning of the economy it's an all-or-nothing gamble, drawing one ball out of an urn with 1000 and hoping it's got a high number on it. With economic freedom it's drawing 700 or 800 balls out of an urn and getting the results of the best one.

[Yardstick]

So, according to Richard Parker in his Feb.6 article, Friedman is a utopian, and therefore Bush's privatized Soche Security accounts are utopian.

[TheDon]

John Kenneth Galbraith

Now there's a completely discredited individual.

[Sam Cree]

read later

[Dat Mon]

bump for reference

[rodguy911]

Years ago I read a book by Friedman called "Free to choose". I never forgot the gist of it which was the country was formed on a basis of freedom! Govt. should have stayed out of almost everything it got into exceptions being keeping the currency safe, protecting us from foreign intervention, securing the borders, and a few basics unique to protecting the safety and security of the republic. Friedman was right then and he is right now. A brilliant man, way over my head.