Ep. 4 - From Cradle to Grave [6/7]. Milton Friedman's Free to Choose (1980)

Since the Depression years of the 1930s, there has been almost continuous expansion of governmental efforts to provide for people's welfare. First, there was a tremendous expansion of public works. The Social Security Act followed close behind. Soon other efforts extended governmental activities in all areas of the welfare sector. Growth of governmental welfare activity continued unabated, and today it has reached truly staggering proportions.

Traveling in both Britain and the U.S., Milton Friedman points out that though many government welfare programs are well intentioned, they tend to have pernicious side effects. In Dr. Friedman's view, perhaps the most serious shortcoming of governmental welfare activities is their tendency to strip away individual independence and dignity. This is because bureaucrats in welfare agencies are placed in positions of tremendous power over welfare recipients, exercising great influence over their lives. Because people never spend someone else's money as carefully as they spend their own, inefficiency, waste, abuse, theft, and corruption are inevitable. In addition, welfare programs tend to be self-perpetuating because they destroy work incentives. Indeed, it is often in the welfare recipients' best interests to remain unemployed.

Dr. Friedman suggests a negative income tax as a way of helping the poor. The government would pay money to people falling below a certain income level. As they obtained jobs and earned money, they would continue to receive some payments from the government until their outside income reached a certain ceiling. This system would make people better off who sought work and earned income. This contrasts with many of today's programs where one dollar earned means nearly one dollar lost in welfare payments.

Category:

Education

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• Milton
• Friedman
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• market
• capitalism
• Walfare
• system
• Social
• security
• crime
• Britain
• negetive
• income
• tax

[dcs672001]

Friedman and Sowell in one video! Nothing more needs to be said.

[Ohyeahbaybay]

OMFG FRIEDMAN IS GENIOUS!

[shadowfighting88]

So there you have it ladies and gentlemen It is the affluent that make it politically difficult for the people to put it into effect.

This is why the sh*t of society continue to breed criminality because they know

that decent society is not as decent as they want you to believe.

[FollowingAutumn]

7:30 - politics - SURE. BUT, the underlying problem IS NOT POLITICAL. IT IS NOW people who WISH TO BE POOR (because now they can get money for doing NOTHING). QUIT PERPETUATING the ABILITY of lazy people to suck on the teet of the taxpayers who bust their own asses to feed THEMSELVES. Are you LIBERALS 'truly" OK with paying (from the sweat of your own brow) for pieces of SH*T in society who only know how to breed criminality and disdain for decent society EXPONENTIALLY?

[FollowingAutumn]

3:25 - OF COURSE we know how to satisfy our WANTS, which have NOTHING to do with our needs, and therefore, once again, this woman has NO TRUE UNDERSTANDING of LIVING POORLY, and wants (once again) everyone to be able to have their cake AND EAT IT TOO, which is economically UNFEASIBLE in a free society (WHICH IS OKAY!!!). Un-f'ing-believeable.

[spyletu]

woman started stuttering when the conversation was beginning to imply that she (welfare bureaucrats) should be fired LOL

[CountArtha]

@thatguysaid The Negative Income Tax is a flat rate income tax with a refund of so many dollars; the idea being that for people below a certain income the refund would exceed their taxes and could replace the money spent on the welfare system.

[tingle007]

What ever became of negative income tax? I love this idea. Dems and republicans both should love it.

[rupertmja1]

Friedman's ideas are the clearest of all - how can it be that amongst all these so called experts that hardly anyone agrees with him? He is the Einstein of economics.

[GtheMVP]

2:12

Some strawman nonsense right thar.

Friedman's ease out plan has a bureaucracy, sure, but it's there to shrink and vanish, unlike the current system, which continues to grow

[Linguiphile]

The Fair Tax in vogue now among conservatives would be best both in decreasing tax-and-redistribution-related government bureaucracies and also in encouraging Americans to save money, which latter habit would tend to slow the economy in the short run but make it healthier in the long run and also have the effect of freeing people from debt-induced wage-slavery.

[jjmdirector]

this is such a great debate! no talking heads talking over each other