Saturday, July 31, 2010

Happy Birthday Milton Friedman, July 31



Classic 30-minute video of Milton Friedman in 1975 (transcript here) discussing the minimum wage, Social Security, politics, the Welfare State, doing good by spending other people's money, housing, rent control, government intervention and the Great Depression, collectivism, the free society, greed, private charity.

16 Comments:

At 7/31/2010 10:23 AM, Blogger juandos said...

What will pseudo benny make of this bit of Miltonian wisdom?

 
At 7/31/2010 1:51 PM, Blogger W.E. Heasley said...

Happy birthday Milton Friedman!

If you like the Open Mind link provided by Dr. Perry then please try this link of Thomas Sowell from the achieves of the Milton Friedman series Free to Choose:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2GklCBvS-eI&feature=youtu.be

 
At 7/31/2010 2:00 PM, Blogger Benjamin Cole said...

I like Milton Friedman.
I just remind readers that he also supported a progressive consumption tax to finance military mobilizations; opposed the home mortgage interest tax deduction; thought pollution should be taxed; thought farm subsidies were for idiots, and hated gold nuts.
Most "conservatives" conveniently quote MF--they leave out his logical and consistent thinking when it comes to their sacred cows.

 
At 7/31/2010 4:17 PM, Blogger juandos said...

"I just remind readers that he also supported a progressive consumption tax blah, blah, blah"...

Not exactly pseudo benny, you lie to people hoping in your repeated lying it will in some bizzare way morph into a fact...

If you're not lying pseudo benny then were is the credible source to your statments that we can link to?

Come on pseudo benny, show us your stuff...

 
At 7/31/2010 4:31 PM, Blogger Paul said...

"Most "conservatives" conveniently quote MF--they leave out his logical and consistent thinking when it comes to their sacred cows."

Speaking of convenient quoters.... Benji the self-describe True Economic Conservative, on this very blog, has supported the minimum wage, protectionism, Obamacare, and all sorts of money mischief by the Federal Reserve. That's off the top of my head, I'm sure there's plenty more Benji hypocrisy.

 
At 7/31/2010 9:12 PM, Blogger andyweintraub said...

According to the American Economics Assocation Economists' Calendar, Milton Friedman was born on July 31, not July 30. July 30 is the birthday of Thorstein Veblen, someone with whom Milton Friedman would fine little in common.

 
At 7/31/2010 9:18 PM, Blogger Mark J. Perry said...

Thanks Andy, it's corrected now to July 31.

 
At 7/31/2010 9:56 PM, Blogger Benjamin Cole said...

On MF's support of a progressive consumption tax to finance military mobilizations, I refer to his original 1943 article in the American Economic Review, or
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/23/business/23scene.html,

His stances on subsidies, taxing pollution, and favored tax treatment for social causes (ie homeownership) are fairly well known, and do not need my footnoting here.

His special contempt for gold nuts was summed up in his quote, "Having a gold standard will just result in a lot of men digging in the earth like moles."

Juandos--you really ought to read deeply of MF's work, if they have them in that library you inhabit. You could become a true conservative.

 
At 7/31/2010 10:35 PM, Blogger Paul said...

"Juandos--you really ought to read deeply of MF's work, if they have them in that library you inhabit. You could become a true conservative."

Benji just rolls right over his Friedmanite inconsistencies so he can point the finger at everyone else. We need no lectures on true conservatism from somebody who voted for Barack Obama.

Hypocrisy thy name is Benji.

 
At 8/01/2010 9:02 AM, Blogger juandos said...

"On MF's support of a progressive consumption tax to finance military mobilizations..."...

So which is it pseudo benny, a progressive consumption tax or a progressive income tax as you've commented previously?

I ask for a 'credible source' source and you offer up the propaganda rag of record, what's that all about?

None the less I would've checked it out but I got a 404 error with what seems to be a partial url...

"Benji just rolls right over his Friedmanite inconsistencies..."...

Yeah Paul, hence my inability to follow Benny's argument...

Benny, there's all kinds of Friedman clips on YouTube, maybe you can find something there to bolster your argument...

 
At 8/01/2010 9:07 AM, Blogger juandos said...

Hey pseudo benny one more thing...

I would be interested in your opinion (seriously) of this
Joseph J. Thorndike commentary on Friedman...

Its just nine short paragraphs and I'm wondering if you see any flaws in Thorndike's commentary...

Thanks...

 
At 8/01/2010 7:02 PM, Blogger Benjamin Cole said...

My dear friend Juandos-

I don't know if you are still reading, but that was an excellent article you referred me to. Thank you.

I am fine with a flat consumption tax of 23.5 percent--you do realize this would also replace the Social; Security tax, that now applies to only the first $100k or so of wage income? The SS tax, for most people, is the heaviest tax.

MF's support of a progressive consumption tax was to finance military mobilizations only, of the type we have had for the last 10 years, during Vietnam or WWII.

Let's see if that confederacy of feckless poltroons, that ring of grifters, the R-Party, will ever support a consumption tax. I highly doubt it. They controlled the House, Senate, White House and Supreme Court from 2000-2006, and all we got was red ink to the moon.

 
At 8/01/2010 7:13 PM, Blogger Paul said...

"Let's see if that confederacy of feckless poltroons, that ring of grifters, the R-Party, will ever support a consumption tax. I highly doubt it. "

I doubt it, too. Your boyfriend and the Democrats would see to it the tax became permanent and steadily increased over time. No thanks.

They controlled the House, Senate, White House and Supreme Court from 2000-2006, and all we got was red ink to the moon."

As opposed to 2006-present when your boyfriend and Pelosi Democrats took over. I'd gladly go back to the $163 billion deficit from the last year of the GOP Congress. Wouldn't you, Benji boy?

 
At 8/01/2010 9:36 PM, Blogger Benjamin Cole said...

Paul-
You should post your own ideas (if you have any), and not merely stand in my shadow and snipe.
For the record, I think Obama should not have gone the health care route, should have pulled out of Iraqistan pronto, should have cut Social Security taxes, raised gasoline taxes, and pushed the fed to get active.

I give Obama about a "C" right now. Yes, that is higher than the "F" Bush earned, although perhaps Bush jr. really deserves a "G" or "H" or some letter higher in the alphabet for special dunces.

 
At 8/01/2010 10:38 PM, Blogger Paul said...

"You should post your own ideas (if you have any), and not merely stand in my shadow and snipe. "

Your shadow? It is to laugh. Your delusions are worth nothing but mockery.

".give Obama about a "C" right now. Yes, that is higher than the "F" Bush earned, although perhaps Bush jr. really deserves a "G" or "H" or some letter higher in the alphabet for special dunces."

I don't have to defend Bush to laugh at your gentle scoring of your boyfriend. Your boyfriend's war on capitalism is unprecedented. Just about any other President in history looks good in comparison to the nitwit you fell in love with in 2008.

 
At 8/01/2010 10:50 PM, Blogger juandos said...

"Your boyfriend's war on capitalism is unprecedented"...

Well Paul that's why Kevin Hassett of the American Enterprise Institute described Obama as the Manchurian Candidate’ Starts War on Business
back in March 9, 2009

 

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