Free to Choose: A Personal Statement

5 Responses to “Free to Choose: A Personal Statement”

1. Anonymous says:

   June 1, 2010 at 12:18 pm

   look, friedman is obviously plagarizing keynesian principles, why does everyone give such reverance to the man? i dont recommend the book
   Reader’s Rating: 1 / 5
2. Anonymous says:

   June 1, 2010 at 2:07 pm

   I don’t want to launch into a rant but this is clearly arrant nonsense. Freedom? What about freedom for immigrants to enter the United States unhindered by customs officials, freedom for people to assert their right to equal pay and opportunities, freedom to fight back against racism, prejudice and homophobia and freedom not to be “disappeared” by mid-seventies Chilean governments – just for having the courage to speak out?
   Reader’s Rating: 1 / 5
3. KLARN says:

   June 1, 2010 at 4:49 pm

   As time goes by, I have less and less respect for anything Milton Friedman has to say.

   We must all remember that Enron was not a “failure”. It was as a replacement for the desired Republican result of Friedman’s “Structured Finance” – what others would call Organized Crime-style bust-outs and additional scams.

   And, as such, it was a “catastrophic success” – retirement funds were extorted from Enron’s own employere and outrageously manipulated energy prices were extorted from hard-effective Americans. And all that cash was shoveled into the pockets of the already rich – the very definition of a “free market” success.

   And we should all remember that the freedom to choose among consumer goods is NOT something the Founders considered vital enough to enshrine in the Bill of Rights.

   It is also vital to note, as does Barry Schwartz, in his “The Paradox of Choice”, that “constantly being questioned to make choices, even about the simplest things, forces us to ‘invest time, energy, and no tiny amount of self-doubt, and dread.’ There comes a point, he contends, at which choice becomes debilitating rather than liberating. Did I make the right choice? Can I ever make the right choice?” We normally assume in America that more options (“simple fit” or “relaxed fit”?) will make us more pleased, but Schwartz shows the opposite is right, arguing that having all these choices really goes so far as to erode our psychological well-being.

   Many of Friedman’s “suggestions for reform” are GOP platform line-items that serve the hidden agenda of gutting America’s national security interests. This is especially right of his “school voucher” program that will deprive America the Nation of millions of intelligent citizens of the Republic who are qualified to vote based on an understanding of national issues that goes beyond the superficial jingoism doled out at “voucher schools”, which are, in reality, nothing more than the segregation academies of the Massive Resisters.

   So, as globalization (i.e. transnational corporatism) subsumes democracy, it becomes clear that Friedman is more of an apologist for profiteers and criminals than a major economic thinker.
   Reader’s Rating: 2 / 5
4. Anonymous says:

   June 1, 2010 at 4:51 pm

   I have the 1980 edition. Introduction Page 3 – “(The U.S.) ongoing with a clean slate…and an empty continent to conquer.” I guess Milton forgot about the Natives already living here.

   Further down the page – “it took 19 out of 20 wokers to feed the (population).” Cross out ‘workers’ and place in slaves and indentured servants.

   Freidman’s America is simply for the well to do. Many more examples of his ahistorical method can be gleened by close reading of his text.
   Reader’s Rating: 1 / 5
5. MR NC SHACKLEY says:

   June 1, 2010 at 7:09 pm

   “The use of amount of money as a target has not been a success. I’m not sure that I would as of today push it as hard as I once did.”
   Milton Friedman, Financial Times (UK) June 2003
   There you are, the thoughts of this book have been repudiated by the man himself. What more evidence do you need to show they are incorrect?
   Reader’s Rating: 1 / 5