Capitalism and Freedom: a Critical Review

Outdated

These also appear to be incorrect now (in 2010) but may have been closer to being accurate when Dr. Friedman wrote. Some have been impacted by developments such as fundraising via the Internet, for example.

Over-simplified

I found that Dr. Friedman often made broad general statements on topics of enormous complexity. The failure to address these complexities often made the statements distorted or even false.

Pro-regulation

I enjoyed this category, because I found a surprising number of statements that either implicitly or even explicitly acknowledged that there is a legitimate role for government to establish the rules of the game and to regulate monetary and economic matters.

Pro-union

I did identify one statement that seemed to imply that unions can perform a useful role.

Utopian

Several statements envisioned the free market operating in a manner totally unrestricted by regulation or other disturbing forces. These statements struck me as being so out of touch with the realities of our marketplace that I labeled them "Utopian."

Category Detail Agreement

One note identified issues with which I am mostly in agreement.

Friedman: [On government versus private spending] none of these shifts can be said to be based on satisfactory evidence. P. 84

Note: We clearly do need more empirical studies of this topic.

Anti-corporation

Two notes were best characterized as being critical of or "anti" corporations.

Friedman: Jealous of liberty, and hence fearful of centralized power, whether in governmental or private hands, the nineteenth-century liberal favored political decentralization. P. 6

Note: Note fear of centralized power in private hands as well. Implication: reduce the power of corporations!

Friedman: Yet some representatives of business who are loudest in their condemnation of labor featherbedding as a violation of free enterprise - notably the oil industry itself - are deafeningly silent about featherbedding in oil. P.125

Note: A miracle! Friedman has found fault with a private industry!

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