Rest in Peace Milton Friedman

[lawrocket 3]

The genius has passed away at age of 94.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061116/ap_on_bi_ge/obit_friedman

The whole "Chicago School of Economics" and monetarist policies were the result of his brainchild. He was also a reformed Keynesian, having come to the realization that government intervention turned a severe but garden-variety recession into the catastrophe that was the Great Depression.

His thing was monetarism, in which the the supply of money is determinative of inflation and price stability. In other words, the more money is supplied by a central bank (i.e., the Federal Reserve), the more money it takes to buy something. It was a response (and actually an incorporation) of some of Keynes's ideas, and sought to explain why inflation and high unemployment could actually go together.

The Depression, he said, was due to a contraction of the money supply. People were making runs on the banks to withdraw their savings. People kept the money under mattresses instead of investing it, which made the problems worse.

With monetarist Greenspan in charge of the Fed, he used the supply of dollars and interest rates to control the economy. It worked.

Despite his brilliance, he was great at explaining things. I saw an interview with him once where he pulled out a pencil, using it to describe macroeconomics, and explaining that no one person can make a pencil. It takes thousands of people to make just one pencil and get it to the end user. A simple thing like that had a profound effect on the thinking of my 21 year-old mind.

If I ever end up actually meeting Milton Friedman, I think I will have made it to the right place.

My wife is hotter than your wife.

[crwtom 0]

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The genius has passed away at age of 94.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061116/ap_on_bi_ge/obit_friedman

Agree with him or not - he's definitelty one of the sharpest minds.

Here what must have been one of his last Interviews

He's not to be confused with a conservative though
He's anit-war, and for legalizing prostitution & drugs.
In the article he also thinks the fact that the Dems
won this election is good thing - a split government
keeps spending down.

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If I ever end up actually meeting Milton Friedman, I think I will have made it to the right place.

I guess he'd prefer limbo over heaven - just because he'd have
another choice open which way to go from there.


Cheers, T

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Fear causes hesitation, and hesitation will cause your worst fears to come true

[kallend 2,182]

I met MF back in 1987. Short, but a cool guy anyway.

RIP

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