Milton Friedman: Equality Before Liberty?

Posted by Solver 6 years, 1 month ago to Economics
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Milton Friedman is so on target!

“In my opinion, a society that aims for equality before liberty will end up with neither equality nor liberty. And a society that aims first for liberty will not end up with equality, but it will end up with a closer approach to equality than any other kind of system that has ever been developed.

...You can only aim at equality by giving some people the right to take things from others. And what ultimately happens when you aim at equality is that A and B decide what C shall do for D. Except that they take a bit of a commission off on the way.”

https://youtu.be/gMLjkt87ICo


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  • Posted by CircuitGuy 6 years, 1 month ago
    The questioner starts with a premise that there is a system, i.e. many moving parts forming a unitary whole. His premise is wrong. It's just millions of individuals making things and trading things.

    It's similar to people saying "the economy" is strong. I understand the meaning, and I might say it too, but I don't like the language. The economy just people finding ways to help one another in mutual exchanges. If more people are finding more ways to do that, we say "the economy" is strong. It makes it sound like the economy is some powerful invisible force. Politicians imply they're responsible for guiding this force.

    If I accepted the wrong premise that the economy is a system setup by politicians, then I would agree with the questioner.
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