In an era of runaway deficit spending, rising inflation, and limited personal freedoms under the guise of public health, it’s a good time to revisit Milton Friedman. Or at least his way of thinking. For those who don’t remember the name, Milton Friedman was a professor of Economics at the University of Chicago who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Economics in 1976. He led a long life of scholarship and deep thinking on broad topics of freedom and economy, passing away in 2006 at the age of 94.
Friedman is often remembered for coining the phrase, “There’s no such thing as a free lunch” and, although he likely was not the source of the expression, he went so far as to title one of his many books after it. His was a supreme intellect that championed the rights of the individual especially in economic decisions. In the book There’s No Such Thing as a Free Lunch (1975) and in its follow-up Freedom to Choose (1980; co-written with his wife Rose who was also a professor and free-market economist) he laid out his belief that individual freedom of choice in economics would lead the resolution of other human problems.
He was a vocal champion of the free market and civil liberties under the rule of law and he had a unique ability to take the most complex economic issues and explain them in everyday language, which is why he had a popular appeal. He became perhaps the most well-known economist of the 20th century next to British economist John Maynard Keynes who was, ironically, the philosophical father of big government deficit spending. Take a moment to watch the following prescient segment from almost 45 years ago:
Interestingly, Friedman also believed that political freedom could not exist without economic freedom. This assertion was something of a departure from other free-market economists who stated that political freedom must exist first in order for individuals to have economic freedom. With regards to what we now call social justice, he once stated, “a society that puts equality before freedom will get neither. A society that puts freedom before equality will get a high degree of both.”
The Friedman Doctrine stated that private businesses had a social responsibility to make as much profit as possible so long as it is done within an open and free market and without fraud. In his 1970 collection of essays Capitalism and Freedom, he asserted that when companies are concerned with social issues rather than with profit it ultimately “leads them to totalitarianism, becoming unwitting puppets of the intellectual forces that have been undermining the basis of a free society.”
By the language of today, when companies get “woke” they become dangerous to a free people. As far as government fiscal policies, he was an opponent of wage and price controls. He wasn’t necessarily against deficit spending in principle as much as he was against bloated government. Surprisingly, he wasn’t against open immigration but only in a nation without social welfare programs. He was no fan of government means-tested programs noting that they were a “mess [and] the source of much human misery” and believed such programs simply rewarded non-work.
For decades, he advocated a negative income tax which would give people a percentage of the difference between their income and an income cutoff, or the level at which they start paying income tax. Such an income tax would provide incentive for people to work because those who work would always make more money than those who don’t (or won’t).
He was a vocal critic of the central banks, particularly the Federal Reserve, believing that that it is entrusted with too much power and often with devastating results. In all of Friedman’s writings and in his many radio and television appearances, one central theme of economic freedom runs through all of his observations. Freedom that the nation was built on and freedom that so many Americans today seem willing to hand over to an all-powerful government in exchange for that elusive state of security.
Darrell Lee has taught American History to high school students for what seems like a lifetime. He holds a doctorate in instructional leadership and previously spent three years picking up cigarette butts and cleaning latrines in Germany. He eagerly looks forward to his impending retirement with more time to wring his hands over the events of the 24-hour TV news cycle.
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Milton Friedman is a great example of a man who can give a simple answer to what is often thought of as a complex question, and do it in a way that those who try to argue against his answer, always fail.
That video is one of many I have seen where he talks to all walks of life, gives the best answers, and argues with some of the biggest boneheads, and still makes his point so well that the audience gets something out of him. He was a man full of character and knowledge, who knew how to use it.
The Friedman Doctrine is right there with the first tenet of capitalism. Freedom. Freedom to trade.
Great topic many need to pick up and throw back in the face of tyrants.