Milton Friedman: Why soaking the rich won't work.

http://blog.voogru.com/2011/11/19/a-p...

The video is self-explanatory. This is a cut of an interview with the economist Milton Friedman, which answers a question about what rich people do with the profits they maliciously obtained from the poor citizens of our great nation.

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  Gaming

[enevighet17]

I wish everyone could see this clip and at least get some brief understanding of economics. Unfortunately, however, ignorance is still i high virtue in our societies.

[stevenpaddybwoy]

Milton friedman is my economic hero .

[tristramshandy3]

My contention is that people will make good decisions if they are well educated and well informed. Sure, right now most voters are not well informed- but is that the voter's fault or the media's fault? While I don't think either side is 100% to blame, the media has a critical function to play in our society and it is not performing that function.

I say let's actually inform people, and then, if they cannot do their job of overseeing government, we'll just have a king instead or something.

[theredscourge]

If people can't make good decisions for themselves, they surely wold make even worse ones for others.

If we can't trust people to make good decisions on which school to send their children to, why in the hell would we trust them to make a good decision on something much bigger, such as who to vote for? Journalists spend years to dig up dirt on politicians and only a few of the ones who do bad shit actually end up having to step down, so then what chance does an average voter stand?

[tristramshandy3]

I don't think it's reasonable to expect the average citizen to spend many hours each week doing research when they work full time and have a family. They rely on the mainstream media, and the mainstream media has a critical function, one which it is failing to perform.

I could argue government efficiency is proven by the great public schools in the rich neighborhoods. I have worked as a teacher in our shitty schools, I know what it's like firsthand. I share your outrage! What do we do about it?

[TheGrasspond]

Government dysfunction is proven by the fact that some schools are well run while others, particularly inner-city, are not. It infuriates me to drive by some of these inner city schools and see what our kids have to walk into every day.

As for information, this is where you and I won't agree. This is a very fundamental dividing line between me and typical left wing thinking. Individual responsibility. Even though all information is at their fingertips they should not have to do the work.

[tristramshandy3]

I agree with Glass-Steagal. That's an example of regulation that managed to work fairly well for a decent length of time.

I think I know why the government is unable to do anything, even the easy stuff. The government must watch over the big businesses; the people must watch over the government. Clearly, we the sheeple have forsaken our job of government oversight.

[TheGrasspond]

These corporations must be regulated and government does a horrible job of it. For example, why not bring back Glass-Steagal and not allow banks to take government subsidized money and play poker. Instead, Barny Frank comes up with this bullshit legislation that fixed nothing but made the left feel good. This is a complex issue but you would think government could at least get the easy stuff correct.

[tristramshandy3]

Government dysfunction doesn't prevent people from getting a good education. The public schools in the nice neighborhoods are VERY well run.

And yes, information is available to anyone, but most people work for a living and don't have sixty hours a week to do the research necessary to stay informed as a voter and consumer. They rely on the media- watching an hour of 'news' each evening ought to give them the basic highlights they need to function- but it doesn't. Our media system is broken.

[tristramshandy3]

But here again is where the 'market' fails because the consumer is not truly informed. If Americans knew the conditions under which their products were produced, more of them would be demanding alternatives. This is where the corporate controlled media fails in performing its critical function- well, one of the many places it fails.

[tristramshandy3]

As a lefty, I believe the government must regulate these large corporations. The right doesn't seem to agree with that, so how do you regulate these gargantuan multi-national corporations? Do you think allowing these multi-national (a very important point, which is why I repeat it) corporations to dominate our election and political process is intelligent?What does the right propose to do about it? Last I heard, many on that side think these multi-national corporations are people, citizens even

[TheGrasspond]

The information available today at everyone's fingertips is nothing less than remarkable. Anyone with an internet connection (which is almost everyone in this country) can sit down, do a quick search and be well informed on almost anything. Those that choose not to is a cultural issue that government has not been able to fix. Start by giving all Americans excellent education as early as possible. Government disfunction seems to prevent that.