Milton Friedman Dead at 94
Milton Friedman kept alive both the economic and philosophical basis for free markets and classical liberalism through the 60's and 70's when few others stood willing to carry the torch. Like only a handful of other economists, he successfully went beyond pure economics to champion the link between economic liberty and all other freedoms. But he was perhaps unique in taking this perspective to the masses, in ways that connected with the average person. He will be missed. In tribute, I guess I need to go out and pay for lunch today.
Update: Tom Kirkendall, one of the best bloggers you may have never read, has a great roundup of Friedman quotes. Also, Alex Tabarrok reminds us of this great Friedman quote:
President Kennedy said, "Ask not what your country can do for you - ask
what you can do for your country."... Neither half of that statement
expresses a relation between the citizen and his government that is
worthy of the ideals of a free society.
Craig:
One blemish on his record that I noticed is that he helped create income tax withholding. Other than that, he did well.
November 16, 2006, 12:51 pmShane:
R.I.P. sir.
November 16, 2006, 1:35 pmGuillermo Pineda:
Mi más sincero pésame a Rose y David. Sus logros nunca serán olvidados y continuaremos la lucha por la Libertad individual y una sociedad próspera fundamentada en el Estado de Derecho y el respeto de la libertad individual de actuar en el libre comercio sin coerción ni privilegios.
November 16, 2006, 7:04 pmMatt:
True, he did have some bad ideas. (Income tax withholding being the worst that I'm aware of.) But he also had that extraordinarily rare quality of being sincerely willing to look deeply at the logic and evidence of his ideas, and change them when it was satisfactorily proven that they were wrong.
A true intellectual giant. He will indeed be deeply missed.
November 16, 2006, 8:26 pmJoshK:
Minor point: He only came up with withholding because it was a war-time emergency. He later said often that this was not such a good idea in peace time.
Now that he is gone, who carries the torch forward?
November 17, 2006, 7:18 amAlex:
A great man who will be greatly missed.
November 20, 2006, 9:10 am