Friedman: Any government schools that are retained should charge fees covering educational costs and so compete on an equal level with non-government-supported schools. P. 99
Note: There are potential students who cannot afford private prices. Providing subsidized education to them can be a valid societal choice.
Friedman: It is hard to see that discrimination can have any meaning other than a "taste" of others that one does not share. " But in a society based on free discussion, the appropriate recourse is for me to seek to persuade them that their tastes are bad and that they should change their views and their behavior, not to use coercive power to enforce my tastes and my attitudes on others. P 110
Note: As a sociologist I find so many things wrong and outrageous in this approach I hardly know where to begin. These "tastes" have motivated the systematic denial of fundamental rights to millions of our fellow citizens. It is entirely appropriate to enforce by law the opportunity for all citizens to exercise their constitutional rights. Where markets are a public part of how our society establishes economic activity, we have not only a right, but I believe an obligation to enforce equal opportunity to participate based on relevant economic factors not circumscribed by "taste."
Friedman: " a producer group tends to be more concentrated politically than a consumer group. P. 143
Note: If this is a "natural tendency" why isn't it accepted as a feature of the "free market?" Friedman seems to prefer that we use government policy to reduce the use of licensure and tariffs, the two main consequences of this tendency.
Friedman: " the failure to distinguish between technical efficiency and economic efficiency. P. 153
Note: The argument is that we should not license doctors and lawyers because doing so reduces the number of practitioners and thereby reduces access to their services. According to Friedman, in addition to good lawyers and good doctors, we need bad lawyers and bad doctors!
Friedman: The chief characteristic of progress and development over the past century is that it has freed the masses from backbreaking toil and has made available to them products and services that were formerly the monopoly of the upper classes, without in any corresponding way expanding the produces and services available to the wealthy. P. 170
Note: Oh those poor wealthy people! Progress has only affected the lower classes! What hogwash! Upper class people today can fly anywhere in luxurious private jets, see and talk to each other through teleconferencing, entertain themselves with professional sports and incredible electronic gadgetry. And I still see less fortunate people engaged in back-breaking labor, when they are "fortunate" enough to have a job.
Friedman: " the personal income tax structure that seems to me best is a flat-rate tax on income above an exemption "with abolition of the corporate income tax " and corporations be required to attribute their income to stockholders " P. 174
Note: I still favor the philosophy that those who have managed to prosper can afford and should be required to pay marginally more to support the government services that provide the infrastructure and other background for their success. Also, how much would any stockholder like to pay taxes on corporate profits that had not been disbursed to the stockholder?
Friedman: Much of the actual inequality derives from imperfections in the market. P. 176
Note: The action of the market is so complex that this statement cannot be justified. Market transactions are impacted by a virtually infinite number of factors. A few of them are: differences in the urgency felt by buyers and by sellers; inequality of alternative resources available to each; demographic changes such as marriage, child-bearing, divorce, retirement or death; degree of monopoly status involved; degree of competition involved; and inequality of size and power. Each of these and many more factors are at play in the market every day. We need to study as many as possible to understand when these forces contribute to positive outcomes and when they generate problems.
Friedman: A " paternalist " believes in dictatorship " P. 187
Note: A few months ago Missouri voters passed Proposition C by a wide margin. It was a Republican swipe at healthcare reform emphasizing a similar point, the required purchase of health insurance. By passing Prop C Missourians voted not to be forced to make the purchase. (My training in sociology to design survey questions leads me to conclude that Proposition C was worded in an extremely biased fashion, but that's another issue.) If duly elected representatives in our democracy pass a law, that law is binding upon all of us whether we favored or opposed it, but that is not dictatorship. It is the rule of the democratic majority.
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