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Posted on 07/31/2008 4:34:36 AM PDT by Kaslin
Few men have had such a profound impact on the world’s economy as Milton Friedman. Though he passed away on November 16, 2006, he left behind an unparalleled legacy of freedom. Today, July 31, 2008 would have been his 96th birthday.
Despite this legacy, students today know little of Friedman’s accomplishments. His profound influence on economic policy is edged aside by politically correct curriculums that emphasize fringe groups and outmoded Marxist ideologies over common sense and sound economic theory.
Last year I attended a conference sponsored by Young America’s Foundation on Milton Friedman, organized in an attempt to balance this one-sided education. This three-day seminar focused on Friedman’s life and works, and it was here I gained a new appreciation of the twentieth century’s greatest economist and advocate of free markets.
As freedom-oriented organizations across the country like Young America’s Foundation today mark “Milton Friedman Day” with events and celebration, I am reminded of the lessons I learned.
Friedman spoke of the dangers of an intrusive government and the key role that a free competitive economy plays in making a free society possible. Not only is economic freedom an end in itself, Friedman rightly argued that it is also an indispensible means towards the achievement of political freedom.
He warned of the disastrous results that occur when government attempts to substitute its own judgment for the judgment of free people. Friedman asked in his famous book, Capitalism and Freedom: “How can we keep the government we create from becoming a Frankenstein that will destroy the very freedom we establish it to protect?” He had a vision of society where men and women are free to choose, but where government is not as free to override their decisions.
It is rare to find someone who has such a high level of intellectual brilliance in addition to common sense. Friedman demolished the ivory tower that used to be home to the study of economics and replaced it with the dinner table. Coauthored with his wife, Rose Friedman, he spread his ideas worldwide with Free to Choose, the best-selling nonfiction book of 1980 written to accompany a TV series on the Public Broadcasting System. Free to Choose made economic principles come alive as Friedman used his good nature and humor to present free market ideas in a way the general public easily understood.
“Nothing is so permanent as a temporary government program,” Friedman notably said. With the federal government the largest it has ever been (some studies estimate more than 14 million federal employees), Friedman recognized the harsh realities of uncontrollable bureaucracy and government spending. Always ready with a witty remark, Friedman concluded, “If you put the federal government in charge of the Sahara Desert, in 5 years there’d be a shortage of sand.”
We have a lot to be thankful for, courtesy of Milton Friedman. Including freer markets, an emergence of entrepreneurs, and his profound influence on leaders like Ronald Reagan. Without Friedman’s cultural influence, one must wonder if Ronald Reagan would have even been elected president. So, next time you engage in any economic activity, whether on Wall Street or Wal-Mart, be sure to thank one of my heroes, Milton Friedman.
He is missed.
it never ceases to amaze me how current education ignores those that have added incalculable value to our society.
another such individual is w edwards deming, who the big 3 auto makers ignored, but the japanese welcomed to their shores.
deming showed the japanese how to build quality into autos.
http://www.managementwisdom.com/
"If you put the government in charge if the Sahara Desert, in five years, you'd have a shortage of sand"!
Good one!
I have heard that in the lobby of Toyota headquarters there are three pictures: the founder, the current CEO and Deming.
thank you.
it’s nice to know that when bad management and unions have destroyed our auto industry,
that there’s a place for american excellence, even if it’s among our competitors.
and, make no mistake—japan did us a favor, returning competition to our free market.
I remember in 1976 or so, we test drove a Honda CRCC or some such model. It was too small and I wouldn't take it on the freeway. At the time, Honda was derided for bringing the "roller skate" into the country. By 1983, the Accord had a 90 day waiting list. In 1984, we had 4 hondas and my tenth Honda in the family is in the garage right now. No major problems and responsiveness from the company.
Libertarian ping! To be added or removed freepmail me or post a message here.
Thanks for the ping on this great article about this great person. :-) Enjoy your day.
"Were we directed from Washington when to sow and when to reap, we should soon want bread." --Thomas Jefferson: Autobiography, 1821. ME 1:122
We might remember that the First Edition of moral philosopher Adam Smith's "An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of The Wealth of Nations," (see 1976 edition published by the University of Chicago Press) was published in June 1776.
America's founding generations, knowledgeable of the history of tyranny, sought to establish America as a place of liberty for individuals, and Adam Smith's philosophy and writings were, no doubt, influential in their thought on matters of liberty and economy.
A thorough read of "The Wealth of Nations" is recommended for people like John Edwards, who now purports to spend his time "studying" poverty. His understanding of how to "help people," as he likes to call it, seems to be rooted in getting those "people" to put him in some place of power in government where he can "take" from some to "give" to others.
For liberty's sake, the youth of America should be exposed to the writings of Smith, including his "The Theory of Moral Sentiments," in order to distinguish between charlatans who use the subject of "poverty" as a means to acquire power in government and those who, like Friedman, understand the principles underlying the miracle of America.
What a wonderful phrase!
I'm reading a collection of essays by George Weigel titled Against the Grain Several of the essays explore the connection between freedom and Christianity. These 2 powerful movements of Western civilization and culture reinforce & inform each other. For example, the Church, as in the body of Christ, requires space and boundaries protecting itself from a too powerful State.
I recommend Weigel's work highly.
As I posted on another thread a few days ago, Richard Frothingham's 1872 "The Rise of the Republic of The United States," (640 pages, Third Edition, Boston: Little, Brown, and Company) is an amazing record tracing the ideas underlying the American experiment in liberty.
Sadly, histories such as Frothingham's have been eliminated from the public libraries and from the minds of historians of the 20th and 21st Century.
On Page 558, Frothingham states:
"The Declaration embodied the doctrine of the fundamental equality of the race, and thus clothed abstract truth with vitalizing power. Its mighty sentences aver as self-evident 'that all men are created equal: that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. . . .'" "This is the American theory," the says, "expressed 'in words the memory of which can never die' (Buckle's History of civilization). It includes far more than it expresses: for by recognizing human equality and brotherhood, and the individual as the unit of society, it accepts the Christian idea of man as the basis of political institutions; and by proclaiming the right to alter them to meet the progress of society, it provided for the results of a tendency to look, not to the past, but to the future, for types of perfection that were brought into the world by Christianity. To maintain such a theory were fought the battles of the revolution. To build on it a worthy superstructure of government and law, was the work entered upon by heroes and sages, and bequeathed to posterity."
I agree on Weigel.
I'm always glad to hear the President enunciate our Founders' idea of God-given freedom, and as the opportunity comes up reinforce the matter in my own private conversations.
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