The essential notion of a capitalist society … is voluntary cooperation, voluntary exchange. The essential notion of a socialist society is force.
MILTON FRIEDMANThe Great Depression, like most other periods of severe unemployment, was produced by government mismanagement rather than by any inherent instability of the private economy.
More Milton Friedman Quotes
-
-
Most of the energy of political work is devoted to correcting the effects of mismanagement of government.
MILTON FRIEDMAN -
I would say that in this world, the greatest source of inequality has been special privileges granted by government.
MILTON FRIEDMAN -
There are severe limits to the good that the government can do for the economy, but there are almost no limits to the harm it can do.
MILTON FRIEDMAN -
The growing role that the government has played in financing and administering schooling has led not only the enormous waste of taxpayers money but also to a far poorer educational system.
MILTON FRIEDMAN -
Governments never learn. Only people learn.
MILTON FRIEDMAN -
Inflation is the one form of taxation that can be imposed without legislation.
MILTON FRIEDMAN -
Corruption is government intrusion into market efficiencies in the form of regulations.
MILTON FRIEDMAN -
The unions might be good for the people who are in the unions but it doesn’t do a thing for the people who are unemployed. Because the union keeps down the number of jobs, it doesn’t do a thing for them.
MILTON FRIEDMAN -
Economic freedom is an essential requisite for political freedom. By enabling people to cooperate with one another without coercion or central direction, it reduces the area over which political power is exercised.
MILTON FRIEDMAN -
When everybody owns something, nobody owns it, and nobody has a direct interest in maintaining or improving its condition. That is why buildings in the Soviet Union – like public housing in the United States – look decrepit within a year or two of their construction.
MILTON FRIEDMAN -
I’m in favor of legalizing drugs. According to my values system, if people want to kill themselves, they have every right to do so. Most of the harm that comes from drugs is because they are illegal.
MILTON FRIEDMAN -
The great achievements of civilization have not come from government bureaus.
MILTON FRIEDMAN -
Nobody spends somebody else’s money as carefully as he spends his own.
MILTON FRIEDMAN -
If you pay people not to work and tax them when they do, don’t be surprised if you get unemployment.
MILTON FRIEDMAN -
There’s no doubt in my mind that Ronald Reagan was by far the greatest. Because he had real principles and he stuck by them. He made clear what he was going to do, and he did it. He didn’t back down.
MILTON FRIEDMAN