Remembering Milton Friedman
 
Milton Friedman passed away this past Thursday, not before his time. The first to win the Nobel Prize for economics (1976,) Friedman was a perceptive theoretist, a confident advocate and a concise economist. We needn’t consider his fate in the next world. Friedman’s economic theories, which have outlived most contemporary economic facts, formed the machinery with which successful central banks operate and the ideals which conservatism, which preceded Friedman in death, articulated before falling silent. A concise explanation by Friedman once inspired a young man who grew up to prattle. Friedman published a book, Conservatism and Freedom, on the cover of which he was depicted holding a number 2 pencil. During that period, he always carried such a pencil with him, as an emblem of the virtue of a free, global marketplace and the lesson was this: the pencil contained wood from Indonesia, rubber extracted from trees grown in Malaysia from seed imported by the British from Brazil, copper from the United States and graphite mined in South America and could be sold anywhere on Earth profitably for a dime. All of this was possible because a global marketplace factored the demand for pencils into an assortment of prices, so that individuals around the world could begin businesses and create local jobs supplying the multitudes with affordable and chewable styli. It was the dime that got me. From this lesson comes another- that the free market offers a simple and elegant means of organizing itself while government offers a complex and unwieldy alternative. It was through Friedman’s theory that the proto-prattler came to understand the basic truth of government- that every tax and each regulation have a cost, a depressing effect on human endeavor and prosperity than commence naturally, certainly and before a law takes effect. All the good done by taxes and regulation follow implementation and depend on the vigilance of honest people against distraction, diversion, incompetence, bifacetism, bifurcation, mediation, disgrace, dysphemism, rhetorical flourish, oratorical adornment, political exaggeration and bureaucratic disinterest. Although taxes may be worth levying and regulations worth injesting, the basic truth is that the odds are stacked by nature against the common good whenever votes are counted. In general only those good intentions that shine the brightest and resolve the clearest will benefit society as a whole. The rest is waste, vanity and spotlit dimness. In matters of global trade and immigration, the effect is compounded by unhelpful restraints on the flow of humanity, prosperity and intellect. Here we see what Friedman saw the clearest: a natural order crippled by the substitution of fear for endeavor and pride for initiative. Under the glamor of global politics, a horse becomes a porcupine with each bone and feather transplanted separately, which would be fine if the product weren’t for riding. Rest in Peace, Milton Friedman. May Heaven eliminate the tariff on souls. The Prattler Wordbook FECKLESS, adj. Thoughtful. FEDERAL, adj. United by peerage into a single disagreement. FEDERALIST, adj. Committed to the principle that the government closest to the people burgles best. FEED, v.t.. To nourish, as with a coupon. FEET, n.pl. A means of conveyance in poetry and peril, as the hands are in politics or the mouth in religion. FEIGN, v.i. To deceive by insincerity, as by concealing an outrage with an expression of outrage. FELL, adj. Cheating, as among gamers. FELL, v.t. To horizontally erect. FELLOW, adj. Arm-to-arm and hand-in-pocket. FELLOWSHIP, n. A collection of conspiracies. FRAUGHT, adj. Caught FRIEDMAN, MILTON (1912-2006( An American economist who dedicated a brilliant lifetime to nagging the world on behalf of Laissez-Faire.
Saturday, November 18, 2006
MILTON FRIEDMAN
July 31, 1912-November 16, 2006