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Milton Friedman (July 31, 1912 – November 16, 2006)

15 comments

Today would have been Milton Friedman’s 100th birthday.

Written by Sinclair Davidson

July 31st, 2012 at 10:21 am

Posted in Uncategorized

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15 Responses to 'Milton Friedman (July 31, 1912 – November 16, 2006)'

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  1. Well a would-be happy birthday to the man.

    here he is answering the (long-winded) question

    “Isn’t it necessary to forcibly redistribute wealth before you can begin to operate under a capitalist system?”

    Gab

    31 Jul 12 at 10:47 am

  2. The Left found him so difficult.

    He was just so patient and nice.

    I read him as a teenager and from then on although ignorant of politics for two decades, I always understood that simplistic emotional rationale for public policy was probably wrong.

    JamesK

    31 Jul 12 at 11:05 am

  3. Tim Wilson with Uncle Milt in 2004: CLICK

    sdog

    31 Jul 12 at 11:23 am

  4. A true intellectual giant of the discipline and my favourite economist. He and Adam Smith are largely responsible for my economic education and I wish Uncle Milty was around today.

    tbh

    31 Jul 12 at 11:29 am

  5. Humphreys told me that when he was writing his Honours thesis he wrote to Friedman because his thesis was on the negative income tax. He got a reply and a whole package of materials in the mail from the great man,

    jtfsoon

    31 Jul 12 at 11:32 am

  6. I wish Uncle Milty was around today.

    I was thinking about how he would react to Obama’s policies and the state of America today (what with 51% on welfare). In a way it’s good he’s not around to see what is happening. It would break his heart surely?

    Gab

    31 Jul 12 at 11:34 am

  7. Some details of what’s on today:

    http://sabhlokcity.com/2012/07/milton-friedmans-100th-birthday-24-hour-celebrations-with-music-knowledge/

    Sanjeev Sabhlok

    31 Jul 12 at 11:37 am

  8. I wish Humphreys had asked about 100% reserve because it could have shut Bird up, repeating the lies of crackpots who make up quotes about Freidman.

    I had a similar response with a lesser known Professor who was the Dean of a Business school by then. Australian academics seem to be petty and vulgar by US standards. Sorry Sinc.

    .

    31 Jul 12 at 11:37 am

  9. Thank you, Sanjeev Sabhlok. I tried to click on your link to that on Twitter earlier, but it errored out on me at the time for some reason (I just checked again and it does work now – bloody twitter).

    Anyway, good post.

    sdog

    31 Jul 12 at 11:42 am

  10. the left found him difficult as he was nice …….. thoughtful and a true gentleman

    selen234

    31 Jul 12 at 12:35 pm

  11. Milton Friedman was always polite but firm. for example, after reading the annual reports of the Fed, Friedman politely noticed the following pattern:

    In the years of prosperity, monetary policy is a potent weapon, the skilful handling of which deserves the credit for the favourable course of events; in years of adversity, other forces are the important sources of economic change, monetary policy had little leeway, and only the skilful handling of the exceedingly limited powers available prevented conditions from being even worse

    Jim Rose

    31 Jul 12 at 6:43 pm

  12. If anyone ever asks me that question about who would you most like to have dinner with living or dead, Milton is top of the list.

    Followed by Margaret, and Genghis.

    CraigS

    31 Jul 12 at 7:07 pm

  13. I remember a TV press interview when Milton Friedman came to Australia way back when! Norm Gallagher from the BLF was there. I think he had just completed some sort of business degree and obviously thought he was “it and a bit”. He stood up and asked Milton a question which clearly indicated the very left wing direction Gallagher was coming from and which Gallagher thought would leave Milton high and dry and floundering to rebut such a “learned” question. Well Milton wiped the floor with him. It was just brilliant to watch. Poor old Norm could only tuck his tail between his legs and call for mercy.

    Fred Furkenburger

    31 Jul 12 at 7:33 pm

  14. The smiling assassin.

    Oh come on

    31 Jul 12 at 9:38 pm

  15. God how we miss the guy. He’s one of the few people that were indispensable.

    JC

    31 Jul 12 at 9:43 pm

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