Milton Friedman

Pure brilliance

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News & Politics

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• Milton
• Friedman
• libertarian
• free
• market

[TheBalancedAmerican]

@JoshMan522 I'm a small business owner. I'm not rich, but I earn more than my employees. I earn more because I created the functional system and worked 70hour weeks for 6years. My effort and risk now provides the opportunity of 40 jobs. Incentive and huge risk, has expanded the economy, and everyone is granted more opportunity.

How else does job creation happen?

Open your own business, you would learn that "the rich" do not prevent you from succeeding, the government does =)

[TheBalancedAmerican]

@MrJarth I don't see a problem with large companies. We need industrial sized organizations to produce the needs of society, energy, communication, research and technical manufacturing. I do have a problem with monopolies and crony capitalism.

I'm sympathetic to your perspective, but remember to look at human history on a continuum rather than in a moment. America went through the same stages that India and China are going through now. Developing nations are catching up very fast. =)

[TheBalancedAmerican]

@panayiotisdemopoulos I'm not a purest like Friedman, I prefer hybridized systems. I think government should work to take care of those who can't take care of themselves; children, and the old. Gov should provide free education. But society must remain inside the framework of the free-market, based on voluntary exchange.

Capitalism is defiantly not perfect. If your interested, i have developed a series of reforms to make capitalism work better for people. =)

[TheBalancedAmerican]

@panayiotisdemopoulos "Greece is now being devoured by capitalism"

Greece isn't being devoured by capitalism. It's being devoured by public sector spending. Politicians made too many promises, and now they've run out of money. Countries don't collapsing from too much business. Gov is the root of almost every collapse

"...cannot be solely one of material progress"

Are you invoking a material qualifier when you write about the Vietnamese child-worker? =)

[cont]

[TheBalancedAmerican]

@panayiotisdemopoulos Thank you for your civil response.I will try to return the courtesy. =)

"we should have equal rights to "freedom"

To me, freedom is based on voluntarism. When gov coerces effort from one group and gives to another, special interests corrupt the process. It reducing accountability.

"Can there be peace without justice?"

Justice for whom? The small business owner who gets looted by taxation, or the recipient of the cash?

[cont]

[panayiotisdemopoulos]

@TheBalancedAmerican Things are things and we can be their slaves if they become a central premise. Not to take anything away from enjoying the plumbing my grandfather never had. But our perspective cannot be solely one of material progress. The Hegelian in you has to forgive the stoic in me. I just see an extremity in your views, in spite of your moderate expression and demeanour. I could be wrong. However long or short my lifespan proves to be.

[panayiotisdemopoulos]

@TheBalancedAmerican I shouldn't like to get into an argument, so do excuse my reply if it seems aggressive. We have to agree to disagree. The dictum you have concluded with is rather aphorismatic. We are not all the same, of course, but we should have equal rights to "freedom". I don't see how a Vietnamese child-worker can be as free as myself. Can there be peace without justice? History has a response. And Greece is now being devoured by capitalism, so I can't comment.

[TheBalancedAmerican]

@panayiotisdemopoulos All of that being said, modern capitalism isn't perfect, and will probably evolve. I agree that Gov has a roll to play in regulation and entitlement, but we must not fall into the folly of allowing Gov to consume everything in the name of "fairness", as it has in Greece and others. No one wins in that scenario. =/

Place equality before freedom and you will have neither; Place freedom before equality and to will have a great degree of both. - Freidman

[TheBalancedAmerican]

@panayiotisdemopoulos Humans still have a lot of room for growth, so i sympathize with your perspective, but don't make the mistake of believing that ethics & equality can be legislated. =/

In just 200 years free markets have delivered doubled-lifespans, elimination of most major diseases, indoor plumbing, innovations in technology, logistics, and a respect for law and individual rights.

Things that were once afforded only by the wealthy, are now the purview of everyone.

[panayiotisdemopoulos]

@TheBalancedAmerican

Hello. My main objection is that other people end up working 70 hours a week for 40 years in order for a privileged (or lucky, risk being the key word) few to enjoy life to the fullest. I expect that if we all work 40 hours a week and live respectable lives, that would lead to the fairest distribution of wealth in the world. Of course, those who offer more, or work harder should earn more. But some moderation is required and who better to moderate than elected statesmen?

[Welsh77]

@FuckPropertyRights lol your name is fuck private property rights, it sounds like you're the one divorced from reality. not one society in the world's history has been politically free that hasn't protected private property and established markets.

[kitesurf4life]

@FuckPropertyRights may i ask you what your assumptions about human nature are? i do share his assumptions, so i am curious to know yours. thanks.