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November 19, 2006
The Friedman influence
Several clever recent posts reflect the tremendous influence that Milton Friedman has had on economics and politics.
First, Larry Ribstein -- who doesn't touch on politics much but always provides keen insight when he does -- reflects Friedman's view on government interference in markets with this observation about the current political scene:
Senate Democrats, who need 60 votes to anything, have 51, and that includes some diverse agendas (e.g., Joe Lieberman). The House Speaker-to-be got thoroughly trampled by her own party on her first move. The WP quotes Jim Moran as threatening revenge on people who voted against Murtha (who, by the way, thinks ethics rules are "crap"). Meanwhile, the last time I checked, GWB was still President, a lame duck thinking about the history books.In short, the U.S. government appears to be totally paralyzed for the next two years, incapable of doing much more than impotently holding hearings.
I guess the fact that the stock market has been setting records every day must be just a coincidence.
Meanwhile, the Wall Street Journal's ($) Washington Wire blog passes along this anecdote about Friedman from none other than John Kenneth Galbraith:
[A]t a lunch in Geneva in 1955, India’s statistician mentioned to [Galbraith] that the Indian government had asked several economists, including Milton Friedman, to visit and comment on Indian’s next five-year plan. [Galbraith] replied:“Asking Milton Friedman to comment on a five year plan is like asking the Pope to comment on the running of a birth control clinic.”
Over at Cafe Hayek, Don Boudreaux recounts Professor Friedman's legendary debating skill:
Mr. Friedman also was a virtuoso debater. When, to endorse conscription over the volunteer military, Gen. William Westmorland said that he did not want to command "an army of mercenaries," Mr. Friedman piped up and asked, "General, would you rather command an army of slaves?"Mr. Westmoreland replied, "I don't like to hear our patriotic draftees referred to as slaves." To which Mr. Friedman then retorted, "I don't like to hear our patriotic volunteers referred to as mercenaries. If they are mercenaries, then I, sir, am a mercenary professor, and you, sir, are a mercenary general; we are served by mercenary physicians, we use a mercenary lawyer, and we get our meat from a mercenary butcher."
Finally, Lawrence Summers does a fine job of placing Professor Friedman's impact on the worlds of economics and politics in perspective in this NY Sunday Times op-ed.
Posted by Tom at November 19, 2006 07:39 AM
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