Today I'm wondering, after listening to a number of Milton Friedman's videos on the 100th anniversary of his life, how we managed to muck up our government so bad. Dr. Friedman's ideas about Capitalism and Freedom resound so solidly I can't believe that we have strayed so far from his ideas that freedom makes us all better off. When you look at the 19th Century and the Industrial Revolution you see that the free markets improved the lot of most Americans and in the process things got cheaper. When Vanderbuilt was plying the Hudson River providing his passenger service to people wanting to go to Albany he became rich. In the process fares to Albany became cheaper. When mechanization improved farming and allowed individual farmers to farm more land and produce more crops, food became cheaper. In every case where a need was met and a voluntary exchange was made between two parties usually both parties were better off. Products and services were created as needs developed and entrepreneurs built businesses around those products and services.
As businesses grew, thay wanted protection from unfair competition and asked the government for protection. As soon as the government began to "protect" us we began to give up our freedom and the slippery slope began. When we asked that the government "protect" us from inexpensive steel imports they complied and put tariffs on steel. While the tariff protected steel companies and steelworker unions, the higher price of steel cost jobs in other areas of the economy that would have benefited from cheaper steel. When free trade is entirely free both parties benefit and there is a free exchange. When controls are put in place someone loses. Little by little we have given up our freedom as we have allowed controls to become more and more pervasive on more and more things.
We have done it to ourselves. In an effort to have equality in everything we have give up freedom little by little. As Milton Friedman said, "A society that puts equality before freedom will get neither."
As businesses grew, thay wanted protection from unfair competition and asked the government for protection. As soon as the government began to "protect" us we began to give up our freedom and the slippery slope began. When we asked that the government "protect" us from inexpensive steel imports they complied and put tariffs on steel. While the tariff protected steel companies and steelworker unions, the higher price of steel cost jobs in other areas of the economy that would have benefited from cheaper steel. When free trade is entirely free both parties benefit and there is a free exchange. When controls are put in place someone loses. Little by little we have given up our freedom as we have allowed controls to become more and more pervasive on more and more things.
We have done it to ourselves. In an effort to have equality in everything we have give up freedom little by little. As Milton Friedman said, "A society that puts equality before freedom will get neither."
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