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Milton Friedman

Milton Friedman Quotes

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Famous Milton Friedman Quotes

“I cannot disagree with you that having something like 500 economists is extremely unhealthy. As you say, it is not conducive to independent, objective research. You and I know there has been censorship of the material published. Equally important, the location of the economists in the Federal Reserve has had a significant influence on the kind of research they do, biasing that research toward noncontroversial technical papers on method as opposed to substantive papers on policy and results”

KnowsKindHas BeensImportantPoliticalPoliticsResultsInfluencePolicyMaterialsPaperResearchIndependentMethodSignificantObjectivesDisagreeCensorshipReservesLocationEconomistPapersUnhealthyFederal Reserve
Author:Milton Friedman
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“I am myself persuaded, on the basis of extensive study of the historical evidence, that... the severity of each of the contractions - 1920-21, 1929-33, and 1937-38 - is directly attributable to acts of commission and omission by the Reserve authorities and would not have occurred under earlier monetary and banking arrangements.”

StudyAuthorityEvidenceBasesHistoricalConspiracyReservesArrangementsBankingMonetarySeverityOmissionContractions
Book:Capitalism and Freedom: Fortieth Anniversary Edition
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“Our emphasis here is based not only on the growing seriousness of drug-related crimes, but also on the belief that relieving our police and our courts from having to fight losing battles against drug use will enable their energies and facilities to be devoted more fully to combating other forms of crime.”

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Author:Milton Friedman
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“The Great Depression in the United States, far from being a sign of the inherent instability of the private enterprise system, is a testament to how much harm can be done by mistakes on the part of a few men when they wield vast power over the monetary system of the country.”

MenCountryStatesDoneUnitedMistakeUnited StatesHarmEnterpriseInherentTestamentMonetaryGreat DepressionInstabilityPrivate EnterpriseMonetary System
Book:Capitalism and Freedom: Fortieth Anniversary Edition
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“You could not possibly maintain the current level of government taxation without the taxes being hidden, and they are hidden in two very different ways. They are hidden through withholding, but they are also hidden by being imposed on business, supposedly on business, when really, of course, business can't pay taxes, only people can pay taxes.”

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Author:Milton Friedman
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“The argument for collectivism is simple if false; it is an immediate emotional argument. The argument for individualism is subtle and sophisticated; it is an indirect rational argument. And the emotional faculties are more highly developed in most men than the rational, paradoxically or especially even in those who regard themselves as intellectuals.”

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Author:Milton Friedman
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“...Only physicians are likely to be regarded as competent to judge the qualifications of potential physicians, so licensing boards in the various states...are typically composed..of physicians,...members of the AMA. The boards, or the state legislatures...give the AMA the power to influence the number of persons admitted to practice (by) lengthy training,...(and) the list of 'approved' schools and hospitals (which) is generally identical with the list issued by the Council on Medical Education and Hospitals of the AMA.”

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Author:Milton Friedman
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“The Fed was largely responsible for converting what might have been a garden-variety recession, although perhaps a fairly severe one, into a major catastrophe. Instead of using its powers to offset the depression, it presided over a decline in the quantity of money by one-third from 1929 to 1933 ... Far from the depression being a failure of the free-enterprise system, it was a tragic failure of government.”

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Author:Milton Friedman
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“If, for example, existing government intervention is minor, we shall attach a smaller weight to the negative effect of additional government intervention. This is an important reason why many earlier liberals, like Henry Simons, writing at a time when government was small by today's standards, were willing to have government undertake activities that today's liberals would not accept now that government has become so overgrown.”

IfsWritingImportantReasonGovernmentTodayAcceptingEffectsExampleWillingActivityStandardsNegativeWeightReason WhyMinorsInterventionGovernment Intervention
Book:Milton Friedman on Freedom: Selections from The Collected Works of Milton Friedman
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“. . . it is worth discussing radical changes, not in the expectation that they will be adopted promptly but for two other reasons. One is to construct an ideal goal, so that incremental changes can be judged by whether they move the institutional structure toward or away from that ideal. The other reason is very different. It is so that if a crisis requiring or facilitating radical change does arise, alternatives will be available that have been carefully developed and fully explored.”

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Book:The essence of Friedman
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“By encouraging men to spy and report on one another, by making it in the private interest of large numbers of citizens to evade the controls, and by making actions illegal that are in the public interest, the controls undermine individual morality.”

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Book:An economist's protest: columns in political economy
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“Individual price and wage changes will not be prevented. In the main, price changes will simply be concealed by taking the form of changes in discounts, service, and quality, and wage changes, in overtime, perquisites and so on…. But to whatever extent the freeze is enforced, it will do harm by distorting relative prices.”

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Book:There's no such thing as a free lunch
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“It is my view that what is important is cutting government spending, however spending is financed. A so-called deficit is a disguised and hidden form of taxation. The real burden on the public is what government spends (and mandates others to spend). As I have said repeatedly, I would rather have government spend one trillion dollars with a deficit of a half a trillion than have government spend two trillion dollars with no deficit.”

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Author:Milton Friedman
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“The great virtue of free enterprise is that it forces existing businesses to meet the test of the market continuously, to produce products that meet consumer demands at lowest cost, or else be driven from the market. It is a profit-and-loss system. Naturally, existing businesses generally prefer to keep out competitors in other ways. That is why the business community, despite its rhetoric, has so often been a major enemy of truly free enterprise.”

WayForceCommunityLossBusinessEnemyVirtueProduceProductsCostDemandMajorsTestsProfitDrivenDespiteConsumersEnterpriseRhetoricLowestCompetitorsFree EnterpriseProfit And Loss
Author:Milton Friedman
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