"Underlying most arguments against the free market is a lack of belief in freedom itself." -- Milton Friedman
"Production only fills a void that it has itself created." --John Kenneth Galbraith
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10 comments:
Milton was interviewed by Charlie Rose in Dec. of 2005.
You can watch the entire broadcast here...
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2963837673813979186&q=Charlie+Rose+Milton+Friedman&hl=en
Oh, er, oops.
That's if you purchase the video for a dollar.
Who do I pay the dollar to, you?
Did anyone else notice that with Friedman’s passing the media coverage was hardly what it was with Galbraith’s earlier this year?
I did an on site search at CNN’s website yesterday for the story relating to Friedman –not because I go to CNN per se, but just to survey what their coverage was like-- and I came up with absolutely nothing, whereas I saw a week’s worth of stories about Galbraith’s contribution to contemporary economics and liberalism.
Interesting.
So, if you’re a news subscriber to CNN, that organization doesn’t feel that Friedman’s demise (and any honoring of his contribution to economic theory) is an important event worth telling you about. To someone that influenced society to the extent he did, and to not report on it, that’s so dishonest, and such programming is actually pretty condescending in its social assumptions, whether one agrees with the principles Friedman espoused or not. Had CNN done nothing for Galbraith I’d be making the same complaint for the same reasoning.
So then what gives?
I understand the fact that most journalists and academics --by their own admission-- are somewhat leftist in their postures, and I’m not necessarily making an issue of that. We know that objectivity as a trade standard isn’t something really adhered to anymore, as a possible positioning. And I don’t disagree with the notion that perfect objectivity is impossible, given the condition and nature of being human, but I do, however, lament the abandonment of the attempt by so many and the belief in something greater than ourselves. Let the chips fall where they may, but make the effort to provide the public with everything they need to make up their own minds if they wish to, instead of trying to shape enlightenment into some version of the “new man”. Can we have a rededication to reality, please, over a biased agenda on popular perceptions.
Actually it’s so 60’s dude. You know, together, we can.
Shouldn’t we wish for some sense or attempt at balance when it comes to explaining events and theories and their respective schools of thought? Shouldn’t we expect honesty, or should we accept a utilitarian minded elite and media as a good thing here to stay that’s the way it is?
I understand that Thomas Sowell was at one time a student of Friedman's.
I have a very optimistic view of humanity and in general, the movement of like minded individuals who, in good conscience, work together toward sometimes separate aims, though with concerted or coordinated means. Friedman's "I Pencil" is pretty good at describing this phenomenon.
In other words... I'm more a fan of Friedman's optimistic overview of the ability of the market to improve the state of mankind, warts and all.
What makes me unhappy, distraut or generally puzzled in the continuing unreasonableness of those who feel their prejudices should become the law of the land and the business of government to enforce.
Sowell clears much of the flimsy veneer of contemporary assumptions about a great many things which government has been utilized for as a corrective on in terms of various social discrepancies or perceived injustices over the past 30 plus years and the undesired or unexamined outcomes of said useage.
When it comes to administrations which had a close relationship with Friedman, such as Reagan or Thatcher, it's less useful to the prevailing culture of government as cure all, to point out the instances where less was more, in terms of that argument.
They say Friedman was a voice in the forest at one time, who spoke out strongly against Eastern European socialism and the mistakes of Keynesian policies in the U.S. I understand one of his contributions was that he actually predicted stagflation before it first occured here in the 70's during the Carter administration.
The two main criticisms I've heard were that he offered advice to Pinochet and that he succumbed to emotionality in argumentation.
There seems to be a good deal of coverage of his passing, albeit all from the New York Sun.
Here's a link that provides 11 stories on him, in addition to the 2 pages the New York Times gave him.
http://www.nysun.com/specials/friedman.php
I think that we all often underestimate the true scope of tribalism and/or the degree of dedication of various factions or sub groups within the culture, who have various agendas to be served or alibis to maintain which keep the federal institution aimed at them and their "needs", needs which are carefully crafted through the creative narrative of the mainstream press.
But hey, what do I know? I'm just some unenlightened prol anyway.
I had the luck of sitting beside a Harvard Poly/Sci sholar tonight at dinner and couldn't help but overhear this show off talking about France and the glory of it's social progressiveness. It's no coincidence that the quarterly growth for that quagmire republic is currently zero. But what does that matter when you feel you're superior to fat, stupid, religious nutbag, militarized to the hilt Americans?
Milton Friedman, by the way, made the New Republic's list of "worst political books ever", in response to the "top 50 non fiction books of the 20th century" according to National Review.
He's not a figure who conjures up muted feelings.
And my spelling is particularly crappy this late evening.
We'll take it.
Friedman was one of the greats. Just watching some of the videos of him, I'm left with a feeling that some great friend of mankind has gone.
Last time I felt that way, Dhun, was when Brudnoy passed. That regardless of how much one agreed with his positions or not, one felt that a great, logical mind and intellect had disappeared and wasn't going to be easily replaced.
Another great video of Friedman...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7HMEFsmpKMc
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