Economist Milton Friedman dead.

[zoiks]

Text

 

[chambersc]

What did the 94 yr old Nobel Prize winner die of?

 

[EagleKeeper]

Originally posted by: chambersc
What did the 94 yr old Nobel Prize winner die of?

Friedman died of heart failure

Read the article..

 

[JLGatsby]

Wow. RIP. A true American hero.

 

[j00fek]

 

[Amused]

How very sad. A very sad day for libertarians and capitalists around the world.

 

[raildogg]

I have Mr. Friedman's book, "Free to Choose", written by him and his wife, Rose Friedman (if I'm not mistaken).

Very sad.

 

[DaWhim]

Awwwwwwwwww!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I've read his memoir. he was the eonomist I admire the most.

 

[Apex]

RIP. He was a brilliant man, who served his country better than I can ever hope to.

Some of his most notable (often politically incorrect) economic quotes:

A major source of objection to a free economy is precisely that group thinks they ought to want. Underlying most arguments against the free market is a lack of belief in freedom itself.

Nobody spends somebody else's money as carefully as he spends his own. Nobody uses somebody else's resources as carefully as he uses his own. So if you want efficiency and effectiveness, if you want knowledge to be properly utilized, you have to do it through the means of private property.

We have a system that increasingly taxes work and subsidizes nonwork.

I am favor of cutting taxes under any circumstances and for any excuse, for any reason, whenever it's possible.

The high rate of unemployment among teenagers, and especially black teenagers, is both a scandal and a serious source of social unrest. Yet it is largely a result of minimum wage laws. We regard the minimum wage law as one of the most, if not the most, antiblack laws on the statute books.

Currently more than 40% of our income is disposed of on our behalf by government at federal, state and local levels combined. One of us suggested a new national holiday, "Personal Independence Day" - that day in the year when we stop working to pay for the expenses of the government, and start working to pay for the items we severally and individually choose in light of our own needs and desires. In 1929, that holiday would have come on Feb 12; today it would come about May 30; if present trends were to continuel it would coincide with July 4.

I define Equality of Opportunity as the following : Equality before the Law.
It is a career open to the talents. No arbitary obstacles should prevent people from achieving those positions for which their talents fit them and which their values lead them to seek. Not birth, nationality, colour, religion, sex, nor any other irrelevent characteristic should determine the opportunitiues that are open to a person - only his abilities.
Equality of opportunity, like personal equality, is not inconsistent with liberty, on the contrary, it is an essential component of liberty. If some people are denied access to particular positions in life for which they are qualified simply because of their ethnic background, colour, or religion, that is an interference with their right to "Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.

Industrial progress, mechanical improvement, all of the great wonders of the modern era have meant relatively little to the wealthy. The rich in Ancient Greece would have benefitted hardly at all from modern plumbing : running servants replaced running water. Television and radio? The Patricians of Rome could enjoy the leading musicians and actors in their home, could have the leading actors as domestic retainers. Ready-to-wear clothing, supermarkets - all these and many other modern developments woul have added little to their life. The great achievements of Western Capitalism have redounded primarily to the benefit of the ordinary person. These achievements have made available to the masses conveniences and amenities that were previously the exclusive perogative of the rich and powerful.

A society that puts equality - in the sense of equality of outcome - ahead of freedom will end up with neither equality or freedom. The use of force to achieve equality will destroy freedom. On the other hand, a society that puts freedom first will, as a happy by-product, end up with both greater freedom and greater equality. Freedom means diversity but also mobility. It preserves the opportunity for today's less well off to become tomorrow's rich, and in the process, enables almost everyone, from top to bottom, to enjoy a richer and fuller life.

The long-range sloution to high unemployment is to increase the incentive for ordinary people to save, invest, work, and employ others. We make it costly for employers to employ people; we subsidize people not to go to work We have a system that increasingly taxes work and subsidizes nonwork.

 

[murban135]

Excellent quotes Apex, thanks.

RIP Mr. Friedman

 

[Nerva]

what the fvcking fvck, why isnt this thread receiving more attention. if it werent for this guy, our bonuses would be taxed at 75%.