Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Happy birthday, Milton Friedman

Today would have been the 100th birthday of Milton Friedman, who we lost in 2006 at the age of 94.

There's been a lot written about Friedman, the best of which is from Thomas Sowell and Brad Delong, but nothing sums up the man as well as his off-the-cuff response to a question at the end of a 1978 guest lecture at Standord University.



If you can spare an hour and a half, the PBS documentary The Power of Choice does a great job of illustrating just how big an impact this one little man has already had on our civilization.

Milton Friedman taught me one last lesson that I always try to keep in mind when I talk to people about issues of capitalism and freedom: Be a diplomat, not a preacher, and always remember to smile.

2 comments:

  1. Yglesias also wrote a post on Friedman's birthday that summarizes my rationale for not jumping on the Libertarian bandwagon.

    http://www.slate.com/blogs/moneybox/2012/07/31/milton_friedman_and_quot_you_didn_t_build_that_quot_.html

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  2. Love this man! Thanks for posting!
    -Abner

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