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Wednesday, March 28, 2007

Questions on Milt Friedman

I saw the movie “Syrianna” recently and on of the characters quoted Milt Friedman suppossedly.  This is not the exact quote but what I remember.

“Government Corruption is necessary becuase it checks government regulation it what lets us win” Milt Friedman said that and he won a Nobel Prize!

Comments

I don’t know that he said that, but I think he did say that it was a good thing that government was so inefficient.

If they were efficient they are so huge we wouldn’t have any freedom left.

Or something like that.


What’s going to happen to US industry when the global warming extremists like John McCain double the price of electricity?  I would think all these factories will close and set up in countries where they aren’t scared of technology.


The Whistler's signature
The Whistler on March 28, 2007 at 08:18 am

He probably said it - its vague and cute. Maxims only go so far in my mind.

M. Freidman is a total mental midget compared to Hayek, who is, in turn, a mental midget compared to Kukathas. I highly recommend Kukathas for anyone who demands a little more rigor and detail than Freidman and Hayek provide. He is the uber-god of minimal gov’t intrusion theory, in my mind. Highly recommended reading for those interested in libertarianism and minimal gov’t.


rasberry

Sparkie Arbuckle on March 28, 2007 at 08:31 am

M. Freidman is a total mental midget…

Yet another example of your abysmal ignorance.  Grow up.


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robert108 on March 28, 2007 at 09:32 am

The movie “Syriana” is a propaganda screed against the US.  Don’t expect to find any truth in it.


Media uncovers more Palin stories in one weekend than Obama stories in two years. Still no bias detected

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robert108 on March 28, 2007 at 09:33 am

r108

Yet another example of your abysmal ignorance.

if you sample partial sentences, you can make anyone look like an idiot. if you want to compare and contrast the thoroughness of the three respective theorists i was referring to, lets have at it. i suspect you haven’t read any of the three beyond a random maxim or two, so until you can provide some substance why don’t you bite you lip. i made a comparason. try quoting my whole sentences when you take issue. and… grow up.


rasberry

Sparkie Arbuckle on March 28, 2007 at 01:03 pm

Fair enough, but I guarantee you won’t like it.  I’ll leave the lip-biting to you, Sparkie.
In the first place, Milt is not a “theorist”.  He and Rose worked for the New Deal administration, and so know firsthand, from actual experience, what they are talking about.  The other two are theorists, I agree.  You, lacking real world economic experience beyond buying bubblegum, are attracted to theorists, since they never let practicalities get in their way.  Milt, since he knows of what he speaks, generally says the truth, even if it doesn’t fit into your schoolboy theoretical model.  Got it?  Your statement shows your typical abysmal ignorance, as written.


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robert108 on March 28, 2007 at 01:33 pm

hee hee hee. so thats a no? you haven’t read em eh?


rasberry

Sparkie Arbuckle on March 28, 2007 at 01:50 pm

Of course I have, which is why I know that Milt is not a theorist, but that the other two are.  You just can’t seem to read all that well, Sparkie.  It is you who haven’t read Milt.  Try “Free to Choose” some time.  It will enlighten you, if you have the capacity to be enlightened.
Some advice for you: start a business, meet a payroll, put your nuts on the line with capital investment, manage your money and be a success.  Then you might be worthy of speaking about any economist.  As for now, you are simply ignorant on the subject.  Economics is essentially the study of human behavior, and that is yet another area of ignorance for you.


Media uncovers more Palin stories in one weekend than Obama stories in two years. Still no bias detected

Obama: more experienced than Bristol Palin

robert108 on March 28, 2007 at 01:56 pm

The movie “Syriana” is a propaganda screed against the US.  Don’t expect to find any truth in it.

“Syrianna” is an entertainment movie.  I was wondering if Milt Friedman actually penned something like that, because I could understand if he did.  I know there are some big Milt fans here.


"All the perplexities, confusion and distress in America arise not from defects in their Constitution or Confederation, nor from want of honor or virtue, so much as downright ignorance of the nature of coin, credit and circulation.”
- John Adams

Troy_Pineri on March 28, 2007 at 01:59 pm

He didn’t.  It’s a propaganda screed, and one that is anti-US and anti-US business.


Media uncovers more Palin stories in one weekend than Obama stories in two years. Still no bias detected

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robert108 on March 28, 2007 at 02:08 pm

The actual quote from “Syriana”:

# Syriana (2005)

Danny Dalton: Some trust fund prosecutor, got off-message at Yale, thinks he’s gonna run this up the flagpole, make a name for himself, maybe get elected some two-bit, congressman from nowhere, with the result that Russia or China can suddenly start having, at our expense, all the advantages we enjoy here. No, I tell you. No, sir. Corruption charges! Corruption? Corruption is government intrusion into market efficiencies in the form of regulations. That’s Milton Friedman. He got a goddamn Nobel Prize. We have laws against it precisely so we can get away with it. Corruption is our protection. Corruption keeps us safe and warm. Corruption is why you and I are prancing around in here instead of fighting over scraps of meat out in the streets. Corruption is why we win.

Not really a quote, is it?  It was a movie character’s interpretation of Milt Friedman.  This was not Milt’s view at all.


Media uncovers more Palin stories in one weekend than Obama stories in two years. Still no bias detected

Obama: more experienced than Bristol Palin

robert108 on March 28, 2007 at 02:27 pm

Thanks Robert, for the actual quote from the movie, I did get it wrong. If you see the movie Danny Dalton is talking quite fast and emotionally and it was on HBO so I could rewind.

Corruption is government intrusion into market efficiencies in the form of regulations.

Is this part an actual quote of Milt?  Because I was way off.


"All the perplexities, confusion and distress in America arise not from defects in their Constitution or Confederation, nor from want of honor or virtue, so much as downright ignorance of the nature of coin, credit and circulation.”
- John Adams

Troy_Pineri on March 28, 2007 at 02:54 pm

R108, Where did you find the quote?


"All the perplexities, confusion and distress in America arise not from defects in their Constitution or Confederation, nor from want of honor or virtue, so much as downright ignorance of the nature of coin, credit and circulation.”
- John Adams

Troy_Pineri on March 28, 2007 at 02:55 pm

http://www.imdb.com/SearchQuotes?for=Milt+Friedman&skip=99


Media uncovers more Palin stories in one weekend than Obama stories in two years. Still no bias detected

Obama: more experienced than Bristol Palin

robert108 on March 28, 2007 at 03:11 pm

Troy: Since Milt has written many books, and since “Danny Dalton” didn’t bother to name the book he is paraphrasing, I don’t know how to find it, if it exists at all.  It is most likely a mischaracterization of what he said, since the movie is a hitpiece on free enterprise in America.  Typical.
I have read all of Milt’s books over the decades, but my favorite is “Free to Choose”.  I don’t recall anything resembling what Danny Dalton said in that movie.  Sounds like something from Noam Chomsky.


Media uncovers more Palin stories in one weekend than Obama stories in two years. Still no bias detected

Obama: more experienced than Bristol Palin

robert108 on March 28, 2007 at 03:15 pm

I have read all of Milt’s books over the decades, but my favorite is “Free to Choose”.

Ah… the one that comes in the ‘pop-up’ version. The populist book… in simple talk for the fancy Roberts.


rasberry

Sparkie Arbuckle on March 29, 2007 at 04:06 am

Ah… the one that comes in the ‘pop-up’ version.

That’s really funny coming from an economic ignoramus like yourself.

Economics has been made needlessly complex I think to keep regular folks out of it.


What’s going to happen to US industry when the global warming extremists like John McCain double the price of electricity?  I would think all these factories will close and set up in countries where they aren’t scared of technology.


The Whistler's signature
The Whistler on March 29, 2007 at 05:50 am

whistler

do you read my posts in the reader blogs? you can give me a bit more credit than that.

i try to turn you guys on to a great gov’t minimalist… kukathas, and i get shit on. he covers his ass much better than mf and fh. he thinks about counterexamples and explains them away. he’s much more thorough and i recommend him. thanks for the attacks, but it don’t make me feel bad.

whistler. you are the last one to talk. all this shit is still on your ‘to read’ list. you’ve admitted that. KMA buddy.


rasberry

Sparkie Arbuckle on March 29, 2007 at 05:57 am

Economics has been made needlessly complex I think to keep regular folks out of it.

Absolutely.  Academics need to make the simplest things sound complicated to protect their status.  It takes a lot more than reading books to know economics, which is why Milt is the master.


Media uncovers more Palin stories in one weekend than Obama stories in two years. Still no bias detected

Obama: more experienced than Bristol Palin

robert108 on March 29, 2007 at 08:49 am

r108/TW
700 years ago maybe.


rasberry

Sparkie Arbuckle on March 29, 2007 at 08:57 am
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