Thursday, November 23, 2006

MAD MILTON NO MORE

The infamous libertarian economist Milton Friedman has passed away, is the planet better or worse off without him ? I go for the former. I'm sure that a great many people would concur, In Chile the murderous regime of Pinochet embraced his economic philosophy while murdering and torturing thousands as they did so. The brutal Thatcher and Reagan regimes also loved him, what a legacy, I think that if the Chilean people thought about him at all, it would only be to wish him a lingering, miserable painful end. Big business and vast profits always came first and people came second with this monetary hoodlum, he was an evil man, just like his fellow Nobel Laureate the peace loving Henry Kissinger. What I ask myself is, was it unconscious evil or did they really believe in what they were doing and saying ? Strangely enough I reckon that the loosely wrapped Friedman was enough of a 'space man' not to know, but Kissinger ? never ! he knew alright.

16 comments:

RfS said...

He helped bring down the USSR and freed millions from being clients of the state.

I can see why this scares you into writing this diatribe.

I for one am glad that Marx is dead because his economic policies helped Stalin kill millions upon millions of people in pursuit of them. Care to compare body counts?

Anonymous said...

Errrmmm...socialism and Stalin? Pol Pot? Mao? Castro?

Cllr Terry Kelly said...

for Pete d - do you really want to make comparisons ? it could take a while.

Cllr Terry Kelly said...

rightforscotland ? I knew you were out there under some stone, this is so illuminating. If you really want to see the evil old thug's legacy start with the cesspit that is America and then look at the rest of the planet and tell me then about his success. if you want to compare body counts you will have to consider that communism/ Socialism has only been around for approx 100 years or did you overlook that. I fear you are in denial.

RfS said...

"communism/ Socialism has only been around for approx 100 years"

So lets take a yearly average of killings then shall we? The USSR managed to get through masses more victims than the Nazis yet history gives Stalin a much easier ride of the two despots.

However the point I was making that clearly sailed over your head is that linking economic policy directly to an execution is quite tenuous. I mean, what did Milton say to Pinochet to make him think the economy would be better with all those people dead? What did Marx say in his economic plans to compel Stalin to commit genocide?

Or could it be that in the end it was the person in charge that ordered the killings just because he could and you are trying to smear a man who showed the world how flawed socialism is?

America is a cesspit is it? Care to give some examples?

Cllr Terry Kelly said...

rightforscotland I'll try again - you didn't even try to make sense of the body count, look at what happened all over the world before a hundred years ago under capitalism and this is the history written by the winners ! Milton needed Pinochet to police his experiments a fascist state for him to play with. If you need examples of the American cesspit you are in big trouble - poor with no health care - Katrina - genocide of the Indians - the disproportianate number of blacks in prison - the mureder/crime rates - bring back Adam n Eve eh -and last but not least, Bush x 2 Nixon, Ford, Reagan, Kennedy, joe McCarthy, Rumsfelt, etc etc as I said "a cess pool "

Alcoholiday said...

I agree entirely with your opening comment - the world is a worse place now that Milton Friedman is gone.

The rest of your article (and indeed your entire blog) however is the rant of a man completely ignorant of elementary economics.

The lies about Friedman advising Pinochet have been exposed elsewhere and the real story can easily be found on the web - I suggest you research your articles before publication.

BTW - don't go back and 'stealth edit' your opening line to hide you r ignorance - I have cached this page for posterity.

Anonymous said...

Wow...

So, genocide of the indian's was a libertarian free market policy?

Hmmm...

Socialism seeks to dominate the individual, rather than give the individual the ability to try and make the best for their lives. That is why socialist regimes have been the best at mass murder.
The only rivals to that claim are the other collectivists of the 20th Century - the fascists.

Friedman would never have claimed that the world today, or in the past, is perfect, but he sought to make it better, rather than dwell on mistakes in the past caused by some people having to much power (and its not simply the wrong people, remember Lord Acton's maxim).

There are forms of capitalism which cause undue suffering. The absense of competition is not healthy, but free market capitalism is the best system out there.

Comparisons: I love the way the left do this, they support one group of murdering scumbags because they 'meant well' of were left wing.
Those of us on the libertarian right despise these regimes, but we also despise the regimes you seek to align us with.

Finally: You cite hurricane Katrina as an example of capitalist mendacity: What it was was a government failure. No matter who was in power, the wheels of government turn too slowly.
Who was among the first people providing help? Wal*Mart, that great anti-christ. They supplied resources which were actually needed to the people rather than standing up for the photo-shoots which politicians of all colours took part in, for their own gain.

If you wish to argue for state domination and removal of individual freedom, do that, but don't seek to lecture those who sought to better people's lives and give them freedom (which is what Friedman was attempting in Chile, he saw economic freedom as the means to give political freedom to the masses - something which works, unlike economic control which gives political slavery to the masses).

Anonymous said...

Cllr, do you actually exist ?

If you do, what is really worrying is not that you are obviously completely delusional, but that it seems some people are moronic enough to vote for you !

With people like you in charge, who needs M. Friedman !

Cllr Terry Kelly said...

Pascal thank you for those measured comments, you sound as if you are under extreme pressure and you're not coping very well, I just love drawing out you nutters.

Cllr Terry Kelly said...

Liberal for Freedom, you remind me of a Jackboot stamping on a human face for ever ( Orwell ) I set out to show Capitalist America in it's true light. That obviously upsets you, good ?

Cllr Terry Kelly said...

alcoholiday, what can I say, I meant to say latter but you spotted it, a great victory for you I don't suppose you would consider it pyrrhic ? talking of ignorance what does (you r) mean ? you must indeed be a towering intelect. Describing someone as ignorant missing your own mistakes ! dear dear.

Sir-C4' said...

The infamous libertarian economist Milton Friedman has passed away, is the planet better or worse off without him ? I go for the latter. I'm sure that a great many people would concur

You are a sick fantasist!

I have also noticed you have made a number of disparging remarks about Israel and Jewish culture. You are a Jew-hater in the mould of George Galloway.

Cllr Terry Kelly said...

c4' it looks like Friedman is about to be joined in the warmest corner of hell by that murdering B------ Pinochet it will be a great Christmas, particularly if Fidel survives. It's typical of people like you when you can't defend the indefensable in Palestine to throw around the 'jew hater' jibe. I hate those who oppress others and destroy their homes and lives simply because they are more powerful. That doesn't make me a 'hater' of anyone because of their race but because of their actions. Galloway has nothing to do with my beliefs, as a member of the Labour Party I regard him as a nuisance.

Anonymous said...

So you atleast know alittle about who your wrongly bad mouthing...

“Governments never learn. Only people learn.”
—Milton Friedman, favorite saying

“History suggests that capitalism is a necessary condition for political freedom.”
—Milton Friedman, Capitalism and Freedom (1962)

“The Great Depression, like most other periods of severe unemployment, was produced by government mismanagement rather than by any inherent instability of the private economy.”
—Milton Friedman, Capitalism and Freedom (1962)

“Inflation is taxation without legislation.”
—Milton Friedman, Comment on President Carter's plan to raise taxes to--reduce inflation (1979)

“Most of the energy of political work is devoted to correcting the effects of mismanagement of government.”
—Milton Friedman, PBS 'Firing Line' (October 9, 1988)

“What kind of a society isn't structured on greed? The problem of social organization is how to set up an arrangement under which greed will do the least harm.”
—Milton Friedman, The Macmillan Book of Business and Economic Quotations

“Most economic fallacies derive ... from the tendency to assume that there is a fixed pie, that one party can gain only at the expense of another.”
—Milton Friedman with Rose Friedman, Free to Choose (1979)

“Self-interest is not myopic selfishness. It is whatever it is that interests the participants, whatever they value, whatever goals they pursue. The scientist seeking to advance the frontiers of his discipline, the missionary seeking to convert infidels to the true faith, the philanthropist seeking to bring comfort to the needy—all are pursuing their interests, as they see them, as they judge them by their own values.”
—Milton Friedman with Rose Friedman, Free to Choose (1979)

Good luck with life socialist guy

Cllr Terry Kelly said...

Genial sounding Capitalist - Thank you for the collection of Freedman's sayings, mottos etc here's one for you 'always carry a trumpet with you in case you run into a parade'