"Milton Friedman Proud Father of Global Misery"

Following up on Nick Gillespie's post on Sen. Bernie Sanders' silly rant about how Milton Friedman's "ideology caused enormous damage to the American middle class and to working families here and around the world," I snapped the following photo of an anti-Friedman sticker adorning a newspaper box on the walk to Reason HQ this morning:

The fine print at the bottom reads: "Part of the series: People I'm Really Hating These Days." There's no other attribution, which may or may not mean that Shepard Fairey is now proceeding with caution.

For a definitive explanation of why Friedman deserves none of the hate or blame heaped on him by the likes of Sanders, Naomi Klein, and other leftists, see Johan Norberg's classic Reason feature "Defaming Milton Friedman." For a detailed account of Friedman's many accomplishments, see Brian Doherty's "The Life and Times of Milton Friedman." And for the last word, here's the man himself:

Comments

[John]

something Leftists and inanne stickers. Jay Nordlinger published an e-mail he recieved this morning. They guy saw a car with the following bumperstickers

"When religion ruled the world, they called it the DARK AGES"

SAVE TIBET

[P Brooks]

Cartoon villains rule the world.

[Episiarch]

Thanks, Naomi Klein.

[Elemenope]

"When religion ruled the world, they called it the DARK AGES"

SAVE TIBET

Awesome juxtaposition of stupidity.

It's better to go with bumper-stickers that are merely inscrutable; that way nobody knows where you're coming from but at least their entertained pondering it at the stop light. It's a public service, you see.

[Elemenope]

Holy fucking Gods of Grammar! That should be "they're" not "their".

[EJM]

I'm just wondering if the sticker's placement on a "Washington Diplomat" box was intentional, or just coincidence.

[SugarFree]

When the Gods of Grammar fuck, Esperanto is their idiot offspring.

[JB]

These people make me sick. A part of me looks forward to the coming disaster caused by them...then there will be no law to stop me from giving them just a little of what they deserve.

[Marco]

It's not "SAVE TIBET" it's "Free Tibet - with the purchase of a Tibet of greater or equal value".
http://www.clutchtees.com/free-tibet-t-shirts-pr-16152.html

[NeonCat]

@ JB

You would think that, but any economic downturns will be blamed on wreckers, obstructionists and dirty profit-seekers, not to mention eevulll libertarians. Surely now that the right people are in charge everything will be wonderful and the market will crap rainbows and fuel efficient cars in everyone's driveways.

[Jozef]

There are other posters in this series: Here

[Elemenope]

There are other posters in this series...

At least they're equal opportunity berserkers.

[Elemenope]

When the Gods of Grammar fuck, Esperanto is their idiot offspring.

No, you fool! English was their idiot offspring! Esperanto was the dead conjoined fetal twin!

[Episiarch]

When the Gods of Grammar fuck, Esperanto is their idiot offspring.

When Shatner speaks it, it becomes poetry.

[SugarFree]

Elemenope,

I've always thought English was what they yelled out in passion.

A mongrel language for a mongrel people.

[Elemenope]

When Shatner speaks it, it becomes poetry.

When the wiki article started on the whole "Curse of the Incubus" thing, I half-expected the fifth bullet to be "William Shatner went on to be typecast forever as Captain James T. Kirk".

[robc]

The theme song for the show in the Friedman piece is freaky.

[The Libertarian Guy]

After America unravels, post-socialist takeover, one can only hope people like Bernie Fucking Sanders will be amongst the first to be up against the wall. And NO blindfolds for any of them.

[Denny Crane]

Denny Crane

[Jason]

Obviously the sticker refers to the withholding of taxes from our paychecks.

After America unravels, post-socialist takeover, one can only hope people like Bernie Fucking Sanders will be amongst the first to be up against the wall. And NO blindfolds for any of them.

Henry Waxman gets a cigarette though.

[domoarrigato]

When the Gods of Grammar fuck, Esperanto is their idiot offspring.

Threadwinner SugarFree - take that "Oddly absent" joe.

[Elemenope]

I personally love how Sanders, who agrees with Libertarians on 99% of the civil liberties stuff but disagrees on economics, is "up against the wall when the revolution comes".

It's like the perfect shot the good in both fucking kneecaps.

[domoarrigato]

And while we are on Shatner - whoever is responsible for mentioning that video 2girls1cup yesterday owes me several meals to make up for the last 18 hours.

[Bingo]

James: Anything to keep him from opening that rat-like mouth. He's an orthodontists retirement waiting to happen.

[Episiarch]

Hey domo, look up "Hot Carl". You'll love it.

[someone]

joe wins the thread

[SugarFree]

What's so bad about Hot Carl?

[Taktix?]

"Oddly absent" joe

It's hard to write comments when you're swinging from the President's cock...

[..]

To modify a familiar aphorism: when times are good, our success has a thousand fathers. When times are bad, free enterprise becomes the villain parent.

Eventually capitalism will take a hit from which it never recovers.
Then the real misery begins.

[Warty]

Domo, check out meatspin.

[Episiarch]

What's so bad about Hot Carl?

"Hello, ladies, say hello to Goliath. We had to order special elastic pants for him on the internet."

[SugarFree]

Warty,

Someone watching meatspin.

[SugarFree]

More Hot Carl--if you can stand it...

[Warty]

Is that the one where the kid gets justly punished for saying he hates Google? Fuck that kid.

[Warren]

I admire them for the softness of their heart. But unfortunately it very often extends to their head as well.

Milton Friedman

[anti-joe]

anti-joe claims victory. Troll-a-rific!

[P Brooks]

I'm not clicking any of those links, you bastards.

[domoarrigato]

Ahem.

back to business - Greenspan is a turn coat: again

[geekWitha.45]

We're seeing something that we in gunrights have seen for years and years: the tendency of the Left to base their public rhetoric on outright pants-on-fire lies, which seem plausible to a largely uninformed and fearful public.

[crosspatch]

I believe it was Congressional tinkering that turned into what amounts to a gigantic international financial Ponzi scheme.

As more and more people were given access to mortgages, demand for housing rose and prices were pushed up. As people were soon priced out of conventional mortgages, unconventional means such as "interest only" or "reverse amortization" where not even all the interest due is paid each month were used to get more and more people into the housing market.

As underlying housing values went up the values of bundled derivatives based on mortgage loans went up and these were traded around by the big banks as they ballooned in value. When interest rates finally rose, a lot of the people with adjustable rates were no longer able to meet the terms of their mortgage, they foreclosed, and Sarbanes-Oxley requirements meant that all of the other mortgages needed to be "marked to market" and their value collapsed.

It is the typical thing that happens with Ponzi schemes.

[TallDave]

The left idolizes Che and demonizes Friedman. Their primary enemy appears to be reality itself.

[Bob Mologna]

Common Graffiti in Ireland many years ago read "FREE BOBBY SANDS!" often got update by "with every packet of corn flakes"

I wouldn't have wanted some provo to catch me making the change though...

[Dan]

If that You Tube of "The Open Mind" clip doesn't have the hippest opening theme evah, I haven't heard one.

[Elemenope]

We're seeing something that we in gunrights have seen for years and years: the tendency of the Left to base their public rhetoric on outright pants-on-fire lies, which seem plausible to a largely uninformed and fearful public.

As opposed to the Right, which simply tells stinkers that are not even plausible, and uses all-natural Jesus juice to make up the credibility gap.

"Nah, the Right would never lie. They like guns! Who that likes guns could possibly lie?"

I would think after the last twenty years or so, people on all sides of the spectrum would be a little more circumspect with the "the other side LIES!!! (listen to us instead, we would never lie to you...)" crap. Everybody lies, if they think it would serve their goals better than the truth.

[ajv]

Milton's fatal error was believing that governments were politically capable of limiting expansion of the money supply. The Austrian school recognized this is unrealistic and supports free market currency over fiat. So Milton is largely to blame for the current crisis, but for completely the opposite reasons than his left wing critics suppose. He wasn't free market enough.

[robc]

"theme song...is freaky"

"hippest opening theme evah"

One of us is wrong.

[robc]

Everybody lies

^^^An example.

[buzz]

""ideology caused enormous damage to the American middle class and to working families here and around the world,""

How in the world does a socialist say something like that with a straight face. Has he not looked at his sides track record?

[Neo]

Esperanto

I always thought there was a deep irony to the fact the Klingon is now spoken by more people than Esperanto, while the largest selling Esperanto DVD stars Willian Shatner.

[Brandybuck]

People are running around randomly slapping anti-Friedman stickers on stuff? WTF? There is something seriously wrong with these folks.

[Malto Dextrin]

My favorite bit of leftist hypocrisy is the following EarthFirst bumper sticker:

Back to the Pleistocene!

Which is, of course, to be stuck to the bumper of your....automobile.

[Taktix?]

I always thought there was a deep irony to the fact the Klingon is now spoken by more people than Esperanto, while the largest selling Esperanto DVD stars Willian Shatner.

It's the circle of life, man...

[peter jackson]

Whenever I encounter this kind of leftardism against Friedman, I simply invite the 'tard to rebut Friedman's core premise by explaining how the laws of supply and demand do NOT apply to money. I can never get enough of that clueless look on their faces, especially when I encourage them by promising that if they can actually rebut Friedman there might be a Nobel in it for them. The truth is these lefty lumpen-bourgeoisie amost never have the first clue about the targets of their aspersions.

[Jack]

Naomi Klein is a living testament to the principle of failing-up.

[rvastar]

The truth is these lefty lumpen-bourgeoisie amost never have the first clue about the targets of their aspersions.

Exactly. Recently, my favorite example of this has been reading some brain-dead Lefty or another blame the current economic crisis on the Gramm-Leach-Bliley, asking them to explain exactly HOW it's to blame, then watching the parasite mysteriously disappear!

It's a typical Lefty tactic, perfectly summed up by at least two Lefty heroes:

"RULE 12: Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it." -- Saul Alinsky

"A lie told often enough becomes the truth." -- Vladimir Lenin

[John C. Randolph]

Milton's fatal error was believing that governments were politically capable of limiting expansion of the money supply.

Not only that, he also claimed that the trade deficit didn't matter, as if the Chinese would just keep accumulating dollars and sending us their industrial output forever.

Friedman's big mistake was in failing to understand the need for sound money.

-jcr

[Seward]

Elemenope,

I don't much about Sanders' positions, so I won't comment on them, but I will note that one cannot separate economics from the "civil liberties stuff." They are intimately linked; which is why, for example, nationalization of the banking industry is bad on multiple levels - not only because it will be an economic train wreck but because nationalization means ever more significant access to your financial records, etc. by the government.

[Anna Keppa]

"Not only that, he also claimed that the trade deficit didn't matter, as if the Chinese would just keep accumulating dollars and sending us their industrial output forever."

Errrmmm... I thought the Chines took their accumulated money and bought US treasuries with it.

Have they stopped doing that? Have they stopped sending us their industrial output?

[Brandybuck]

Which is, of course, to be stuck to the bumper of your....automobile.

An Earthfister friend of my used to drive a twenty year old oil spewing/burning ricer. He actually thought it was better for the environment because it was a *Toyota*. Hell, his one car did as much damage as an entire fleet of detuned Hummers.

[Brandybuck]

Actually, the trade deficit doesn't matter! The last thing our economy needs right now is protectionist tariffs and barriers. That's the last remaining ingredient that would spiral us into GreatDepression II.

[robc]

JCR,

he also claimed that the trade deficit didn't matter

Trade deficits dont exist (well, there is a bit of a time delay factor, but that can be ignored). When we had the huge "trade deficits" with Japan in the 80s, they were exporting cars and vcrs to us and we were exporting Hawaiian golf courses and NYC skyscrapers to them. For some reason, the latter, or stocks or bonds, dont get counted as exports.

[The Monster]

An overall trade deficit cannot exist without a budget deficit, which allows the excess dollars sent abroad to return to purchase USGOV paper. Otherwise, the stacks of pictures of dead presidents held by other countries would produce downward pressure on exchange rates to balance things out.

[economist]

"An Earthfister friend of my used to drive a twenty year old oil spewing/burning ricer."

An "earthfister"? I don't even want to know what that is.

[Helmut O\' Hooligan]

Tall Dave: "The left idolizes Che and demonizes Friedman. Their primary enemy appears to be reality itself"

Like most extremists, socialists need super villains as much as need a personality cult (which may be focused on an individual like Che or on a charicature, such as the ideal worker). As Living Colour said back in the day, "only you can set you free."

[The Libertarian Guy]

I personally love how Sanders, who agrees with Libertarians on 99% of the civil liberties stuff but disagrees on economics, is "up against the wall when the revolution comes".

***

Socialism and freedom cannot coexist. It's akin to mixing axle grease and vinegar, and refering to the resulting concoction as "Italian salad dressing".

[The Libertarian Guy]

Elemenope, there's another reason to not trust the likes of Bernie Sanders: He's a Democrat. Don't let the "independent" tag fool you.

I've often said there's a 50/50 chance of either Brand X Party being the ones to turn this country into an East Germany-flavored hellhole. Dems have virtually unlimited power now, and they'll by God (er, Gaia?) use it unwisely, just like the previous gang of criminals did.

BTW, my "up against the wall" reference was for the aftermath, the days following the fall of America as we know it. Might happen, hope not, but more likely bad shit's gonna rain down from D.C. and WE are going to get the Cleveland Steamer out of the deal. Lucky us.

[John C. Randolph]

It's akin to mixing axle grease and vinegar, and refering to the resulting concoction as "Italian salad dressing".

I think I've been to that restaurant. I had blotted it out until you reminded me.

-jcr

[Junk Basket]

It makes no sense to buy into the assertion that more people speak Klingon than Esperanto.

But on meth it does.

[armchairpunter]

Opening theme music is clear communist attempt to undermine Friedman's message. It almost worked on me. Had it continued for another 20 seconds...

[stevo]

There are about 10,000 times more speakers of Esperanto than of Klingon (1,000,000 to 100).

[comatus]

Free Tibet.
Dial 1-800-MARINES to schedule.
____________________________
I suppose that's not really
libertarian, but damn it's fun.

[mankso]

Wonder where Neo got this gem of misinformation from?:
>I always thought there was a deep irony to the fact the Klingon is now spoken by more people than Esperanto,

It certainly doesn't square with the figures available here:
Klingon Questionnaire: http://home.swipnet.se/~w-12689/survey.htm and
annual World Esperanto Congress: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Esperanto_Congress

[SugarFree]

Esperantistoj estas tre ofendi?ema.

[Darvin Dowdy]

Pls forgive me "but" the insane idea that the formerly wealthy U.S. could send out all of its wealth throughout the world in bad trade deals, then expect it to mysteriously all come back to us is reckless and irresponsible. You'll forgive me if I don't worship at the shrine of M. Friedman. DD

[Albie]

Too bad Milton wasn't alive and in his prime. He would have ate a lefty intellectual lightweight like sanders alive.

[guy]

Whoever printed up the sticker is a familiar type. Enough of an education to know Milton Friedman's name, but not enough to know what the man believed. In other words, pig-ignorant, but with the arrogance of a twit with a degree or two.

[Michjo]

Esperantistoj estas tre ofendi?ema.

EsperantistOJ estas tre ofendi?emAJ... Obeu la gramatikon, diablege!

🙂

[Michjo]

Esperantistoj estas tre ofendi?ema.

For the benefit of you non-Esperanto-speakers out there, SugarFree tried to say that "Esperantists are very touchy." Considering the vulgarity of one of his/her earlier comments and the verifiably contrafactual nature of other comments made here regarding Esperanto, Mankso's response is remarkably levelheaded, nothing more than a dispassionate rectification of a factual error. I suppose you can call that "touchy", but by that standard, everyone here would be touchy. I also suppose you can conclude, based on just one response, that the entire class of people to which the respondent belongs is touchy, but that wouldn't add anything useful to the discussion, would it?

[hundo]

how about "esperantistoj estas humorless fekocerboj"

[Michjo]

Comments like that say more about the author than the intended target. Call me "senhumora", but vulgarity just isn't very funny.

[Mehrdad Khallaghi]

Today, we have reached the end of the line for the Chicago view of financial deregulation. Friedman thought that the central bank could exercise enough influence over the money supply to effectively control it, and that banks and other financial intermediaries would be regulated tightly enough that what is now happening would be impossible. unfettered.

[Mario Savio]

Funny to see so many 'rightists' (?) attacking 'leftists' and ignoring Friendman's own words: 'you can't judge a bottle by it's label, you have to look inside'.

I guess leftists are the new niggers, women, terrorists, communists?

[No]

Mario Savio, what about the ways the leftwings treat to rightwings?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NGsHB7Hjpi4

Please go kill yourself for being a fucking retard!

[prometheus]

How odd that in every place where Friedmanist Free Market Utopian has been introduced, the results have been social unrest, protests and riots.

In some cases, rather disturbing numbers of people have even been "disappeared" following the introduction of Chicago school ideas.

There's only really one question to be asked about this man. Was he so stupid as to actually believe that free market reforms would improve quality of life for the majority of people, or was he so wicked as not to care about the consequences of his immeasurable folly.

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