Milton Friedman Says That The American Economy Is Fantastic

I was watching him last night on Charlie Rose's program, and he said that we have nothing to worry about when it comes to outsourcing to Asia, budget and trade deficits, or anything else. He wants more tax cuts, more de-regulation, more free trade, and more immigration.


When I was younger, I use to think that people like Friedman were brilliant. As I've gotten older and wiser, I see that people like him look at economies through the prism of how that economy treats its wealthy and powerful. If an economy doesn't tax its wealthy nor regulates its businesses, then to Friedman, that economy is a strong productive economy. IOW, in Friedman's world, only the wealthy matter. The working class and the poor are just there to serve the wealthy, and they do not deserve any of life's necessities like food, shelter, housing, education, and health care by virture of being a citizen of a nation. They have to prove their worth to the wealthy in order to get these things.

I can't believe that old capitalist gasbag was still around. I thought he had turned to dust and ashes long ago...

and they'll almost always express the idea that wealth=intelligence and superiority. It comes out in their little unthinking catchphrases, like, "it's the wealthy who create jobs", or "we need to cut taxes on the most productive Americans", etc., etc.

The natural consequence of that belief is, of course, that poverty=inferiority.

I'd bet you cash money Milton Friedman either started out rich or upper middle class.

standing. The wealthy deserve their wealth because they are good, upstanding Christians. The poor deserve their lot for some sins they choose to repeat time and again.

he learned that if you use your intellect to protect the wealthy from taxation, then you will be handsomely rewarded.

Nothing happens anywhere until somebody does some work.

by conservatives. Listen to Rush when he says "the poor"...it sounds like he's saying "the criminals".
No New Testament for these folks. No reciting of Jesus' parable of the rich man and the beggar woman...who Jesus praised because though she gave a few pennies..she gave "all that she had". Whereas the rich man bragged about how much he contributed to the church though it was a fraction of his wealth.
You won't hear that from Rush or any of the others who glorify wealth.
And so many of today's wealthy did nothing -- nothing -- to earn their wealth. They're not inventors like Edison, Ford, or McCormick. They inherited wealth. Or stole it from their bankrupted corporation. These are not admirable people.
And yet. Increasingly. We're demonizing the poor. It's their fault Wal-Mart's wages won't put food on the table and gas in the car. It's their fault Katrina leveled their homes and communities and took away their employment.
You're right. These smug conservative wingbags feel superior.
Without reason.

It's a reality show that follows the lives of rich kids living in a beach community. I think that it's Malibu. Talk about the idle rich. They do nothing but fret over their "relationships". They're not studying medicine, engineering, or anything that could actually help makind. They're spending their parents' wealth, and we should give these assholes tax cuts?

America has been a place where ingenuity meant success. Now, our wealthy have done nothing. They've inherited. That's it. And that money didn't provide jobs. It was just kept safe for little Paris to spend on her toys. There's no growth or stimulation of the economy. It's stagnant.
How has the Bush family wealth enriched our country? What jobs have been created? Dubya failed miserably at three companies before Papa installed him as governor.
And even worse are the CEOs who have so gloriously "failed up". They've done horribly at their jobs. And profited by billions. In their wake are the thousands of hard-working Americans who have lost their life savings.
We're turned the American dream on its head. Now, it's not about working hard. It's about gaming the system and then hoarding the lucre you didn't sweat to earn.
Plus, conservatives always equate their bank accounts with their saintliness. If they've got the money, then they just have to be better people than everyone else.

and should be put in a home for the elderly

I bet there is someone in Bangalore who can make similar profound observations for 1/5 of Milton's compensation.

Put Milty to work as a Walmart greeter, and hire the Indian.

Let Milty personally experience what makes the American economy "great".

Yes. And notice how no one's in a rush to offshore CEO, CIO, CFO, etc. positions offshore -- that's where real savings are. It makes a helluva lot more sense to offshore those insanely-paid positions w/their platinum parachutes than offshore regular folks.

trickle down economics have been found not to work and in the hands of morons like george w bush, they are dangerous to the economy of the entire country.

safe debt to buy and not to worry, they won't be cashing it in. That was about all i could take.

No wonder why lower income people are suffering.

So when you see or hear how well the 'economy" is doing, you know the middleclass and poor are suffering. There is no more representation in the media for "We the People". And yes, the wealthy have just about abandoned the principals of our Democracy for greed. They in fact are traitors who use and abuse our system.

it's always some asshole with a really good paying job?

,...as being something other than what it really is to MOST Americans.

He's just another well-paid "HO" or, actually, prostitute He bases none of his assertions on reality or overwhelming fact pertaining to MOST Americans, being a amoral prick that he is. It's a living, I guess.

For the love of money,...he advocates unleashed greed and gluttony. He's a disease.

outside the country like War is good to fight inflation.

What Friedman means is that that pesky little problem with inflation is solved - if only the bottom 2/3 of the population sacrifice with lesser paying jobs and buying cheaper goods.

Says nothing about what the rich are doing?

What sacrifice they?