No major institution in the US has so poor a record of performance over so long a period as the Federal Reserve, yet so high a public reputation. Milton Friedman More Quotes by Milton Friedman More Quotes From Milton Friedman History suggests that capitalism is a necessary condition for political freedom. Clearly it is not a sufficient condition. Milton Friedman capitalism political history If the only motive was to help people who could not afford education, advocates of government involvement would have simply proposed tuition subsidies. Milton Friedman liberty government people The real tragedy of minimum wage laws is that they are supported by well-meaning groups who want to reduce poverty. But the people who are hurt most by higher minimums are the most poverty stricken. Milton Friedman real hurt law The way you solve things is by making it politically profitable for the wrong people to do the right thing. Milton Friedman solve people way If a country is an attractive place for foreigners to invest their funds, then that country will have a relatively high exchange rate. If it's an unattractive place, it will have a relatively low exchange rate. Those are the fundamentals that determine the exchange rate in a floating exchange rate system. Milton Friedman floating fundamentals country Business corporations in general are not defenders of free enterprise. On the contrary, they are one of the Milton Friedman competition different special There is one and only one social responsibility of business - to use it resources and engage in activities designed to increase its profits so long as it stays within the rules of the game, which is to say, engages in open and free competition without deception or fraud. Milton Friedman increase social responsibility The fall of the Berlin Wall really demonstrated beyond the shadow of a doubt that there was a bad system, and what subsequently happened in the Soviet Union, that that system was a failure. Milton Friedman wall doubt fall The big problem for a democratic government - democrat with a small "d" - is how to hold down government spending. Milton Friedman bigs government problem The Great Depression was not a sign of the failure of monetary policy or a result of the failure of the market system as was widely interpreted. It was instead a consequence of a very serious government failure, in particular a failure in the monetary authorities to do what they'd initially been set up to do. Milton Friedman great-depression government serious The true test of any scholar's work is not what his contemporaries say, but what happens to his work in the next 25 or 50 years. And the thing that I will really be proud of is if some of the work I have done is still cited in the text books long after I am gone. Milton Friedman long book years To the free man, the country is the collection of individuals who compose it, not something over and above them... He recognizes no national goal except as it is the consensus of the goals that the citizens severally serve. He recognizes no national purpose except as it is the consensus of the purposes for which the citizens severally strive. Milton Friedman goal men country Is there some society you know of that doesn't run on greed? You think Russia doesn't run on greed? You think China doesn't run on greed? What is greed? Milton Friedman russia running thinking I can spend somebody else's money on somebody else. And if I spend somebody else's money on somebody else, I'm not concerned about how much it is, and I'm not concerned about what I get. And that's government. Milton Friedman government The heart of the liberal philosophy is a belief in the dignity of the individual, in his freedom to make the most of his capacities and opportunities according to his own lights. Milton Friedman heart opportunity philosophy How can we keep the government we create from becoming a Frankenstein that will destroy the very freedom we establish it to protect? Freedom is a rare and delicate plant. Milton Friedman protect becoming government Prohibition is an attempted cure that makes matters worse - for both the addict and the rest of us. Milton Friedman prohibition anarchy matter Economic freedom is ... an indispensable means toward the achievement of political freedom. Milton Friedman independent freedom mean They think that the cure to big government is to have bigger government... the only effective cure is to reduce the scope of government - get government out of the business. Milton Friedman scope government thinking The great achievements of civilization have not come from government bureaus. Milton Friedman achievement government civilization
