Volume 9, Number 4
December 2000

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At 88, Economist Milton Friedman Still Has the Power to Provoke.

by Eli Schuster, PhD History, Queen's University, completed 2nd year

It requires guts to take on a political hero at the height of his popularity. But that's exactly what economist Milton Friedman did in the very first lines of his classic 1962 book, Capitalism and Freedom. US President John F. Kennedy's stirring "Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country," sent entirely the wrong message to people, wrote Friedman, because: "(n)either half of the statement expresses a relation between the citizen and his government that is worthy of the ideals of free men in a free society."

Few would accuse Friedman of lacking the courage to attack foolish yet popular ideas, and at the ripe old age of 88 he has seen the rise and fall of national socialism, democratic socialism, communism, and Keynesianism. Historical events are guided in large part by great men and inspiring ideas, and Friedman played a major role in the eventual world-wide acceptance of market-based economics.

I had the opportunity to meet Milton Friedman once. While volunteering for the summer 1999 Vancouver meeting of the Mont Pèlerin Society—a free market group founded by Friedrich Hayek and others after the Second World War—the other volunteers, mostly 20-something university students, and I were introduced to the Nobel-Prize winning economist by an organizer. Professor Friedman was eating breakfast with his wife Rose at the time, and a few of us were a little worried he might tell us to get lost. He did no such thing.

Instead, he shook all of our hands, posed for a couple of photos, said something to the effect of how great it was to see young people interested in public policy, and eventually returned to his by-then soggy corn flakes.

By all accounts, Friedman was the star of the whole event. He and Rose were the most noticeable couple in attendance; both are short, and it was impossible not to smile at the sight of them holding hands like lovesick teenagers. Still, what Friedman lacked in physical stature, he more than made up for in sheer stage presence. His powerful voice sounded strangely like Thurston Howell III from Gilligan's Island, and his quick wit made short work of more than a few dumb questions from the audience. The audience at a lecture he gave on the seemingly dry subject of fixed-versus-floating exchange rates was standing room only.

The theme of the Mont Pèlerin gathering was "creeping socialism," and whether or not the "third way" approach of US President Bill Clinton, British Prime Minister Tony Blair, and German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder represents a change for the better, or a mask for big government.

On this, Friedman was an optimist. Socialism, he said, was crumbling, not creeping, and while it is true that the size of government has generally become bigger over the past 20 years, opinions have shifted, and it takes a "long, long time" for societies to change.

Friedman went on to say that economic thought runs in cycles. The free-market Adam Smith tide lasted from the late 1700s until the mid-1800s, when it was gradually replaced by the Fabian tide, which did not come into full effect until after the Second World War.

He said the current Hayek free-market tide is only beginning to have an effect on public policy, and may be greatly aided by the Internet, which will make tax collecting a difficult chore for governments.

Even people who fundamentally disagree with Milton Friedman's ideas about free markets should thank him for encouraging global thinking. You're an inspiration, Professor Friedman.

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