Theories can be based on any assumptions, however bizarre. Milton Friedman More Quotes by Milton Friedman More Quotes From Milton Friedman A private enterprise system needs some measuring rod, it needs something, it needs money to make its transactions. You can't run a big complicated system through barter, through converting one commodity into another. You need a monetary system to operate. And the instability in that monetary system is devastating to the performance of the economy. Milton Friedman complicatedrunningneeds 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. Milton Friedman spynumbersmen If freedom led to wider inequality, I would prefer that to a world in which I got artificial equality at the expense of freedom. My objective, my god... is freedom of individuals to pursue their own values. Milton Friedman inequalityindividualworld The long-range sloution to high unemployment is to increase the incentive for ordinary people to save, invest, work, and employ others. We make it costly for employers to employ people; we subsidize people not to go to work We have a system that increasingly taxes work and subsidizes nonwork. Milton Friedman unemploymentlongpeople One of the reasons that I am in favor of less government is because when you have more government, industrialists take it over. Milton Friedman favorsgovernmentreason Complete free trade is not politically feasible. Why? Because it's only in the general interest and in no one's special interest. Milton Friedman tradeinterestspecial The stock market and economy are two different things. Milton Friedman economydifferenttwo There have been unions based on gold or silver, but not on fiat money - money tempted to inflate - put out by politically independent entities. Milton Friedman unionsindependentgold I start ... from a belief in individual freedom and that derives fundamentally from a belief in the limitations of our knowledge, from a belief ... that nobody can be sure that what he believes is right, is really right ... I'm an imperfect human being who cannot be certain of anything, so what position ... involved the least intolerance on my part? ... The most attractive position ... is putting individual freedom first. Milton Friedman freedombelievefirsts When you argue for free markets, you are arguing against the trend. Milton Friedman free-markettrendsarguing If you spend your own money on yourself, you care how much you spend and how well you spend it. If you spend your own money on someone else, you care how much you spend, but you don't care how well it is spent. If you spend someone else's money on yourself, you don't care how much you spend, but you do care how well it is spent. And finally, if you spend someone else's money on someone else, you don't care how much you spend, and you don't care how well it is spent. That is government. Milton Friedman wellscaregovernment ...theories should be judged by their ability to predict events rather than by the realism of their assumptions. Milton Friedman investingassumptionevents How can thinking people believe that a government that cannot deliver the mail can deliver gas better than Exxon, Mobil, Texaco, Gulf, and the rest? Milton Friedman governmentbelievethinking 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. Milton Friedman mistakemencountry Cutting government spending and government intrusion in the economy will almost surely involve immediate gain for the many, short-term pain for the few, and long-term gain for all. Milton Friedman cuttingpaingovernment Saying it is one thing. Doing it is very different. Milton Friedman one-thingdifferent 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. Milton Friedman communitybusinessloss Politicians will always spend every penny of tax raised and whatever else they can get away with. Milton Friedman get-awaypoliticianpennies The case against a fully independent central bank is strong indeed. Milton Friedman independentcasesstrong The one thing that’s missing, but that will soon be developed, is a reliable e-cash, a method whereby on the Internet you can transfer funds from A to B, without A knowing B or B knowing A. Milton Friedman cashknowingmissing
