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.