8 Replies to “Classical Liberalism:  a primer”

1. McGehee says:

   June 27, 2006 at 3:53 pm

   Yikes! That theme music—I didn’t know Fingers on the Blackboard did PBS theme music.

2. McGehee says:

   June 27, 2006 at 3:53 pm

   Er, Fingernails on the Blackboard…

3. Carl W. Goss says:

   June 27, 2006 at 4:38 pm

   Interesting to watch classic Friedman.  Lemme see now:

   1.  SS is bad.
   
   2.  Welfare is bad.
   
   3.  Unions are bad.
   
   4.  Minimum wage is bad.

   In other words the welfare state is bad.

   Why?  Well, those programs distort market forces.  Oh, and don’t forget, they also hurt poor people, especially blacks. 

   [Of course government programs that wind up subsidizing industries and providing tax benefits for the wealthy never distort market forces.]

   Has it ever occurred to Friedman that the American people might want the market distorted enough to provide at least some kind of social safety net, for those who, for some reason aren’t wealthy?

   Apparently not.

   Interesting to note that the only country that ever put Friedman’s beliefs into practice was Chile, and that on the point of Pinochet’s bayonets.

   Gimme welfare-state liberalism; it definitely beats anything Friedman ever offered.

4. OHNOES says:

   June 27, 2006 at 4:48 pm

   Interesting to watch classic Goss.

   1. Summarize.
   
   2. Misrepresent.
   
   3. Anecdote.
   
   4. Declare victory.

5. Mastiff says:

   June 27, 2006 at 5:22 pm

   Do not confuse oligarchism and crony-capitalism with true free-market capitalism.

   Recall that those who most often support the sorts of market distortions that free-marketeers despise are the monopolists. They wish to throw up barriers to entry for potential adversaries.

   The true champion of the free market is not the oligarch, but the small businessman.

6. Bill says:

   June 27, 2006 at 6:35 pm

   [Of course government programs that wind up subsidizing industries and providing tax benefits for the wealthy never distort market forces.]

   Friedman specifically mentions the pernicious duo of special interests and the resulting government corruption. Yes, I could do without both.

7. McGehee says:

   June 27, 2006 at 7:07 pm

   Gimme welfare-state liberalism

   Canada awaits.

8. Peter jackson says:

   June 27, 2006 at 8:10 pm

   Interesting to watch classic Friedman.  Lemme see now:

   1.  SS is bad.
   
   2.  Welfare is bad.
   
   3.  Unions are bad.
   
   4.  Minimum wage is bad.

   In other words the welfare state is bad.

   Thanks, Carl, for the economically illiterate perspective. What Friedman ACTUALLY contends:

   1. SS is unsustainable.
   
   2. Welfare makes the poor worse off in practice.
   
   3. Unions help their members at the expense of the other 90% of the work force.
   
   4. Minimum wages cause unemployment, i.e. ZERO dollars per hour, amongst the least employable workers.

   “Bad” is as “bad” does, Carl.

   And his arguments are very sound. They have in fact transformed the study of economics. So the bad news for you is that you’re sitting on the ash heap of history whether you realize it or not. The good new is If you actually have an effective counter-argument, there may be a Nobel in it for you.

   yours/
   
   peter.

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