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Nearby today readers will notice excerpts from a memo written to Ronald Reagan by his economic advisers between his November 1980 election and inauguration. We share the memo because it shines a historical perspective on our own economic dilemmas as the Presidential race hits its Memorial Day turn. The memo was sent to us by George Shultz, who later became the Gipper's Secretary of State but had served previous stints at Treasury, Labor and the White House budget office. The signers include some of the last century's most consequential economic figures, notably the great Milton Friedman, tax-cut evangelist Jack Kemp...

We're Milton Friedman fans. And we're believers in powerful but simple videos, too. Professor Friedman's famous video, entitled "I, Pencil," (based on Leonard Reed's essay of the same name) inspired us to take a closer look at the humble pencil.

The pro-statism crowd routinely argues that we need more government. Every so often, though, one of them inadvertently stumbles on the truth. But they then refuse to draw the logical conclusion. For instance. One of President Obama’s health appointees noted that quality increases and prices fall when markets are allowed to operate – yet he concluded that we should further restrict market forces in health care.The IRS Commission admitted the tax code is a complicated mess and that he pays someone else to compile his tax return – yet he dodged a question about whether Congress should fix the mess...

I've been holding this post in the hope of finding video of Lara Friedman's appearance on James Zogby's Viewpoint on Sunday night in which this issue was discussed. I haven't found it yet. In an earlier post, I reported that 'Peace Now's Lara Friedman attended the 'International Conference to Save Jerusalem' in Qatar. At the time, I was appalled by Friedman's attendance and apparent support for the disgusting pretense that there is something wrong with Israel exercising sovereignty in its own capital. But maybe some good will come out of Friedman's attendance. On Sunday night, Friedman wrote a piece for...

In this archival video from Free To Choose Network, Milton Friedman explains why he believes people allow their liberties to be eroded. The question -- and Friedman's answer -- could have come up today. This video was taken at Cornell University in around 1978.

In December of 2000, FP Comment orchestrated Nobel Money Duel, an extended debate between Robert Mundell and Milton Friedman, two Nobel laureate economists who held different views on currencies and the global monetary system. Robert Mundell, sometimes called the father of the euro, saw it as a great leap forward. Milton Friedman foresaw conflict. Here’s a brief excerpt from their debate: Robert Mundell: The advent of the euro has demonstrated to one and all how successful a well-planned fixed exchange rate zone can be. After the 11 currencies of the zone were locked to the euro and to each other,...

Thomas Friedman calls rabbi "stupid" during lecture at Yale University

At 7:33 AM CDT Rick Santelli asked guest host Thomas L. Friedman, New York Times foreign Affairs Columnist, and author of his new book " That Used to be Us, " the following question: " Is Social Security a Ponzi Scheme ? " Tom replied, " Your question is idiotic ! " Rick then replied: " Your answer is idiotic! " GAME ON !

Thomas Sowell on the War on DrugsMilton Friedman on the War on Drugs

In this clip from the 1980 Free To Choose, socialist Frances Fox Piven tangles with Milton Friedman and Thomas Sowell. We thought this would be interesting in light of the recent dustup between The New York Times and Fox News (Glenn Beck) on the subject of Piven.

During the 2008 presidential election season, many Americans were captivated by then-candidate Barack Obama’s promises of hope and change. And some would argue that much of the media were taken in by the promises too. Nearly three years into the Obama presidency, is it fair to say the media were duped? On Sunday’s broadcast of CNN’s “Reliable Sources,” host Howard Kurtz asked New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman just that question. According to Friedman, the jury is still out.

VIDEO/AUDIO DIRECT LINK Glowing endorsement by a former rival for the governorship of Texas! Watch for Kinky's written endorsement which will appear in the Daily Beast in the coming Days! When asked by Don Imus if Perry is a right-wing whacko who hates gays, Kinky replies, "No, he's an Evangelica. He's a man who really loves you, me, gays and everyone.

During the past few weeks, something of a back-and-forth has developed between New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman and conservative talker Mark Levin. The topic: disparaging comments Friedman made about the government of Israel. Last month, in an appearance on Bloomberg’s “The Charlie Rose Show,” Friedman said, “Israel today — I’m sorry — it has the most inbred, unimaginative government I think it’s ever had.” And on Monday’s “Imus in the Morning” show on the Fox Business Network, Friedman clarified those remarks. “The right words Don, are inbred, brain dead and completely, I would say, indifferent to the situation that...

Milton Friedman's grandson Patri has a vision that might have made the economist proud: to build a floating libertarian nation 12 miles off the coast of California.Billed as "Burning Man meets Silicon Valley meets the water," the planned nation flotilla would be constructed on a variety of barges and water platforms within sight of San Francisco. It would include everything from homes, schools and hospitals to bikes for transportation and aqua farms for food.Despite the widespread skepticism that the project is bound to invite, Friedman already has secured more than $2 million in venture capital for the development, which strives...

Here's a novel idea: Escape the suffocating chains of intrusive government by starting your own country! That's Patri Friedman's idea. He comes from an impressive line of libertarian thinkers. Milton Friedman, the Nobel-prize-winning free-market economist, was his grandfather. His father is David Friedman, author of the libertarian classic "The Machinery of Freedom." Milton Friedman advocated severely limited government. David Friedman thinks we need no government at all. And now Patri believes he has an effective solution to bad government: communities on the ocean surface, or seasteading. As a fan of the free market, Friedman understands the benefits of competition. The...

The following quote is in the front pages of Milton and Rose Friedman's book, "Free To Choose". It is from Justice Louis Brandeis, Olmstead v. United States, 277 U.S. 479 (1928) The quote is relevant to the political debate in this country today. I want to hear a range of opinions about Brandeis' ideas. The quote: "Experience should teach us to be most on our guard to protect liberty when the government's purposes are beneficial. Men born to freedom are naturally alert to repel invasion of their liberty by evil-minded rulers. The greater dangers to liberty lurk in insidious encroachment...

Milton Friedman answers a question about what rich people do with their profits.

The late economist discusses "greed" with Phil Donahue in 1978.

Milton Friedman explains the two greatest enemies of free enterprise and freedom in the world.

I confess, I find it dispiriting to read the polls and see candidates, mostly Republicans, leading in various midterm races while promoting many of the very same ideas that got us into this mess. Am I hearing right? Let’s have more tax cuts, unlinked to any specific spending cuts and while we’re still fighting two wars — because that worked so well during the Bush years to make our economy strong and our deficit small. Let’s immediately cut government spending, instead of phasing cuts in gradually, while we’re still mired in a recession — because that worked so well in...

Columnist contends Americans no longer care about Israeli-Palestinian conflict and this could eventually hurt Israel's national security interests. New York Times opinion columnist Thomas Friedman said that many Americans are becoming "fed up" with Israel. Friedman's comments came in an interview with Channel Two reporter Dana Weiss to be aired on Saturday. Friedman stated that while the American public was by no means anti-Israel, they no longer care about the Israeli-Arab conflict and this could eventually hurt Israel's national security interests. Friedman added that he believes Israel is not doing the utmost to promote renewed peace talks with the Palestinians....

Has the White House been influenced by a convicted domestic terrorist for its attack on the Chamber of Commerce?The latest assault on the Chamber has been spear-headed by none other than the President himself and picked up by David Axelrod, MoveOn.org and all the usual Astro-Turfers who receive marching orders from the DNC. It’s become part of the standard talking points for cable-news pundits and their well-programmed guests and has been the new rallying cry for the left as they try their best to explain the imminent electoral disaster that looms on November 2nd. But one group was well ahead...

Since Tim Geithner did not predict the economic crisis, Nassim Taleb has no interest in listening to him talk about it now. The author of The Black Swan, a book about risk and probability theory, told National Journal's Matthew Cooper that he did not listen to Geithner, who preceded him at the Washington Ideas Forum.

Thomas Friedman Bashes Tea Party, Calls for New 'Centrist' Movement By Noel Sheppard Created 09/29/2010 - 10:56 New York Times correspondent Thomas Friedman is clearly unhappy about the Tea Party, so much so that he considers the movement "not that important." Instead, he envisions another group, "which stretches from centrist Republicans to independents right through to centrist Democrats," sitting silently out there in America waiting for the right leader to emerge. So wrote Friedman Wednesday in his "The Tea Kettle Movement [1]": The Tea Party that has gotten all the attention, the amorphous, self-generated protest against the growth in government...

Special thanks to user mnehring for pointing me in the direction of this video; an interview all Freepers would enjoy watching. I've already sent it to all my Liberal friends. Brilliant interview on youtube (July 31, 1912 – November 16, 2006) Milton Friedman WikiIf you put the federal government in charge of the Sahara Desert, in 5 years there'd be a shortage of sand.

"...Will they? The Chinese system is autocratic, rife with corruption and at odds with a knowledge economy, which requires liberty. Yet China also has regular rotations of power at the top and a strong record of promoting on merit, so the average senior official is quite competent. Listening to Prime Minister Wen Jiabao of China tick off growth statistics in his speech here had the feel of a soulless corporate earnings report. Yet he has detailed plans for his people’s betterment, from universities to high-speed rail, and he’s delivering on them. Orville Schell of the Asia Society, one of America’s...

Kelsey Grammer is choosing some fantastic shows for his new network. It's not up on many cable providers, but if you sign up for their emails, it will show the companies that it is popular. Go to the main page and sign up. I like it streaming, I don't have cable.

Milton Friedman's brilliant PBS series, "Free To Choose" is back online - for free. If you have not seen it and are even remotely interested in economics, this is a MUST SEE series. Much more so in light of our nation's current backslide into the cesspool of Socialism and Statist thought, 'neo'keynsian economics and police state regulation.

I’ve been reading a bit about Milton Friedman, a Hoover Institution economist -- not a politician -- who past away in 2006. Conservatives can learn quite a bit from this great man. We need another conservative economic mentor for present-day, and maybe Dan Mitchell is that person? The headline from this article is a Friedman quote from a March 2000 interview billed as an effort to provide economic advice to the next president. Do read the full interview, I can almost hear Friedman’s voice discussing the topic with his unique inflection, almost guiding you to answer questions yourself with an...

So the question is, aside from Rush Limbaugh and a few other talk show hosts, where are the people defending freedom to the masses the way in which Milton Friedman was able to do it? If you would like to see Milton Friedman in action, Click Here

Milton Friedman explains why spending other people's money for Obamacare or any other welfare payment never works. Click Here to see him explain.

America's current struggles notwithstanding, life here is pretty good. We have a standard of living that's the envy of most of the world. Why did that happen? Prosperity isn't the norm. Throughout history and throughout the world, poverty has been the norm. Most of the world still lives in dire poverty. Of the 6 billion people on earth, perhaps 1 billion have something close to our standard of living. Why did America prosper when most of the people of the world are still poor? Milton Friedman taught me the answer. More than any other American, Friedman, who won the Nobel...

Milton Friedman, prime advisor to U.S. President Ronald Reagan, was perhaps the most insightful and clearsighted advocate of Capitalism ever. Over here in Europe (where I live), a continent characterized by Socialism, tradition, but also by high IQ levels, he was awarded the 1976 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics. Few economists ever are. Considering the fact that Europe - and especially the Scandinavian countries - were very much into Socialism at that time, 1976, this might surprise some people not having studied the details of his life or that part of recent Scandinavian history. Why would anyone in Volvo Paradise...

You think Tony Stark is a bad-a$$ capitalist? Milton Friedman would kick his butt. Bill Whittle tells you why. VIDEO

Dr. Milton Friedman describes changes in the public image of labor unions; from when they started compared to the present day.

Milton Friedman gives his brilliant assessment of equality in the context of inherited wealth. Thomas Sowell ...

Editor's note: The following is excerpted from an article with the same headline by Nobel Prize winning economist Milton Friedman that was published in the Wall Street Journal on April 17, 1996. Friedman died in 2006. A related editorial appears nearby: In a chapter in his novel "The Cancer Ward" titled "The Old Doctor," Alexander Solzhenitsyn compares "private medical practice" with "universal, free, public health service" through the words of an elderly physician whose practice predated 1918. . . Mr. Solzhenitsyn himself had no personal experience on which to base his account and yet, in what I have long regarded...

Sometimes I wonder what this guy is thinking. Another great moment from the wizards of smart (copyright 2009 Rush Limbaugh).

It’s always nice to welcome a new conservative to the fold. And, although this column has frequently criticized Tom Friedman of The New York Times, it seems he may finally be coming around -- whether he realizes it or not. Friedman’s column on March 2 opened with an observation. Passing through Los Angeles International Airport, he noticed that it’s showing its age. “We are the United States of Deferred Maintenance,” Friedman wrote. “China is the People’s Republic of Deferred Gratification. They save, invest and build. We spend, borrow and patch.” Fair enough. So why aren’t Americans building big things such...

Milton Friedman has been dead for more than three years. But his spirit was surely hovering protectively over Chile in the early morning hours of Saturday. Thanks largely to him, the country has endured a tragedy that elsewhere would have been an apocalypse. Earthquake magnitudes are measured on a logarithmic scale. The earthquake that hit Northridge in 1994 measured 6.7 on the Richter scale. But its seismic-energy yield was only half that of the 7.0 quake that hit Haiti in January, which was the equivalent of 2,000 Hiroshima-sized bombs exploding all at once. By contrast, Saturday's earthquake in Chile measured...

Google (GOOG) defiantly stated late Tuesday it may exit China, citing attempts to hack into dissidents’ e-mail accounts. It strongly suggested the Chinese government was behind the attacks. The company also said it will no longer censor its results in China. Clearly, Google doesn’t understand the nuances of China’s totalitarian rule the way New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman does.

Phil Donahue discusses greed with Milton Friedman, professor of economics at the University of Chicago. Old clip but very true. Watch it here.

Surely, the most important, interesting — and, yes, heroic — figure in the whole Christmas Day Northwest airliner affair was the would-be bomber’s father, the Nigerian banker Alhaji Umaru Mutallab.Maureen Dowd is off today.

GETS FORMER SEQUOIA CO. VP NAMED AS ADVISER TO U.S. ELECTION ASSISTANCE COMMISSION Earlier this month, Obama made his first official move to corrupt and undermine the 2010 elections. The move consisted in the little noticed appointment of a technical adviser to the Technical Guidelines Development Committee (TGDC) of the U.S. Election Assistance Commission (EAC). The importance of the appointment was explained at The Brad Blog last Monday. The Official Press Release of the U.S. Election Assistance Commission read as follows: U.S. ELECTION ASSISTANCE COMMISSION 1225 New York Ave. NW – Suite 1100 Washington, DC 20005 For Immediate Release December...

For a chance to unseat a 5-term incumbent, check out Matt Friedman for Congress: Matt Friedman for Congress 302 Washington #942 San Diego, CA 92103. www.friedmanforcongress.org

It is crunch time on Afghanistan, so here’s my vote: We need to be thinking about how to reduce our footprint and our goals there in a responsible way, not dig in deeper. We simply do not have the Afghan partners, the NATO allies, the domestic support, the financial resources or the national interests to justify an enlarged and prolonged nation-building effort in Afghanistan. I base this conclusion on three principles. First, when I think back on all the moments of progress in that part of the world — all the times when a key player in the Middle East...

In just 2 1/2 minutes, Milton Friedman explains—albeit, in a backhanded way—why capitalism works and socialism is doomed to failure… Video Link

It is hard to know if Thomas L. Friedman’s love affair with China, already reaching approval of autocracy, is so intense that he is blind to reality or that he simply likes to pick and choose facts from China to buttress whatever he thinks we should do in America. His recent column in the New York Times, "The New Sputnik," is mostly a recitation of what is widely known. China, both because it is increasingly concerned about pollution and because there may be business opportunities is looking to “go green” or, at least, more green than it has been as...

The dwindling number of readers of The New York Times were treated Wednesday to a column by Thomas Friedman extolling China's "one-party autocracy," which, he told us, "is led by a reasonably enlightened group of people." China's leaders, he reported, are "boosting gasoline prices" and "overtaking us in electric cars, solar power, energy efficiency, batteries, nuclear power and wind power." All, of course, in the cause of reducing carbon emissions, which so many luminaries assure us are bound to produce global warming and environmental catastrophe.

Sometimes it's best to go back and listen to the heavyweights in order to truely learn. Some answers don't deserve to be forgotten. _ Nobel Laureate Economist Milton Friedman explores the unsettling dynamics set into motion when government imposes itself into the health care system. (1978) _