Milton Friedman Schools Young Idealist (Stanford)

In this classic footage from a Stanford University lecture, Professor Friedman takes Q&A after his talk "The Role of Government in a Free Society." In this exchange, a young man describes poverty as a "market failure." Friedman, in characteristic fashion, shows otherwise. Though this was recorded around 1979, the exchange is timeless.

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Nonprofits & Activism

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• Milton Friedman
• poverty
• role of government
• market failure
• minimum wage
• welfare state

[billsurlatete]

his ability to reduce and simplify a problem is what makes him such an effective speaker.

[TheGeneralOfWar]

@mcamoran It's not a free market myth, if we would have been able to keep our Constitutional Republic it would not be this way. We don't really have a free market for you to criticize. That is because a while back they turned this into a Democracy and all Democracy's inevitability turn into a oligarchy and business follows into a corrupt system.

To the Republic for which it stands. It was beautiful while it lasted.

[FletchforFreedom]

@ShockSMH He does no such thing. His example was NOT a straw man. It responded to a specific question - his position was questioned with the ad hominem about whether or not he had ever been poor. It was specifically in regard to that point that he mentioned the doctor with cancer. If, perhaps, you had a better understanding of what constituted a fallacy (as you clearly do not), you'd do better at grasping the reality of Friedman's message.

[FletchforFreedom]

@ClevelandFIST HAHAHAHAHAHA!!! Wow, disconnect from reality much? As the Soviets misrepresented both life expectancy and economic growth for decades while bankrupting the domestic economy to fund its military/space activities, the notion that it worked is laughable (as is the oft stated belief that there was no homelessness in the Soviet Union because they didn;t report it).

Capitalism has improved conditions for workers and the poor for 300 years making the economy BETTER.

[ClevelandFIST]

So, the free market tripled Soviet life expectancy, entered outer space, and defeated Hitler? I think not. That was Socialism, which worked!

Only in capitalism can people starve because there is TOO MUCH FOOD, and food production is too efficient resulting in layoffs.

Only in capitalism can people be homeless because there is TOO MUCH HOUSING, and no jobs are available in construction.

In capitalism, the economy gets worse, the more efficient production is. CRAZY!

[ShockSMH]

@UzikAlJhamin It's not my "opinion", it's reality. Like I said, look it up. Don't try to argue with me about it. I didn't invent the concept of human logic.

The state of his question being a fallacy does in fact nullify it. That's purely circumstantial. I merely opened your eyes to it.

[UzikAlJhamin]

@ShockSM Trying to nullify someone's point through your opinion of how it is a logical fallacy should be a new logical fallacy called the "Douche Bag" fallacy.

[ShockSMH]

4:24 Friedman's question here (doctor with cancer) is what's called a "Straw Man" fallacy. Do a google search for an explanation of it.

Why does he resort to a logical fallacy with which to coerce people into believing what he has to say, if his arguments are sound? So far, I'm not impressed with what has been petty sophistry and poor logic from Milton Friedman.

[UCSDEngineerDoctor]

OBAMA does not want you to have freedom. It means less taxes he can take from you.

[UCSDEngineerDoctor]

OBAMA and the democrats are the most detrimental instruments of inducing slavery. Welfare, food stamps, minimum wage - all taxes on businesses so that they can throw the crumbs to the poor while their UNION government social cubicle hamster workers bankrupt this country.

[cyanide585]

Friedman absolutely destroyed this utopian socialist and all his silly egalitarian nonsense.