The (Greatest?) Economist, Milton Friedman on This Day in History

This day in history: American economist Milton Friedman was born on this day in 1912. The Economist described him as "the most influential economist of the second half of the 20th century ... possibly of all of it". Friedman was an adviser to Republican President Ronald Reagan and Conservative British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. His political philosophy extolled the virtues of a free market economic system with minimal intervention. Friedman stated that he was a libertarian philosophically, but a member of the U.S. Republican Party for the sake of "expediency" ("I am a libertarian with a small 'l' and a Republican with a capital 'R.' And I am a Republican with a capital 'R' on grounds of expediency, not on principle.") But, he said, "I think the term classical liberal is also equally applicable. I don't really care very much what I'm called. I'm much more interested in having people thinking about the ideas, rather than the person."

Friedman supported the legalization of drugs and he was instrumental in eliminating the military draft in the 1970's.

However, Friedman did things that went contrary to Free Market Ideals. For instance, he helped invent income tax withholding. 

His book, Capitalism and Freedom promoted a Federal Reserve inflation and a government-guaranteed income for everyone. Friedman "sold out on key issues, because he was always ready to compromise with politics. He always sounded a pair of trumpets, one for the free market and the other for the mixed economy." Gary North

Friedman also supported central-bank-controlled fiat money instead of a gold standard. Also, instead of attacking John Maynard Keynes and his spend spend spend economic theory, Friedman stated in 1965 that "We are all Keynesians now"...almost as a concession.

However, Milton Friedman was certainly a great and quotable communicator:

"Nothing is so permanent as a temporary government program."

"Inflation is taxation without legislation."

"Hell hath no fury like a bureaucrat scorned."

"The government solution to a problem is usually as bad as the problem."

"A society that puts equality... ahead of freedom will end up with neither."

"Only government can take perfectly good paper, cover it with perfectly good ink and make the combination worthless."

"If you put the federal government in charge of the Sahara Desert, in 5 years there'd be a shortage of sand."

"When everybody owns something, nobody owns it, and nobody has a direct interest in maintaining or improving its condition. That is why buildings in the Soviet Union -- like public housing in the United states -- look decrepit within a year or two of their construction."

“The great virtue of a free market system is that it does not care what color people are; it does not care what their religion is; it only cares whether they can produce something you want to buy. It is the most effective system we have discovered to enable people who hate one another to deal with one another and help one another.”

See also The History & Mystery of Money & Economics-250 Books on DVDrom