Why Government Is the Problem (Essays in Public Policy)

List Price: $5.00 Discount Price: $3.40

Customer Reviews:

ARGUMENTS AGAINST STRENGHTENING GOVERNMENTS [Posted on 2004-08-13]
In this very short piece, Friedman tries to make a brief argument on why government is in fact the main obstacle to development. Given the very limited space (18 pages), it is impossible to make a very strong argument on such a broad topic. Friedman makes some good points, but most of them do not provide supporting evidence, so it leaves a hesitant reader unconvinced. It seems to me that this book is sufficient for good argument over cocktail conversation.

For a more thorough analysis of the same arguments presented in this short book, I would recommend either Capital and Freedom or Free to Choose by Friedman as well.

GOOD BRISK READ [Posted on 2004-10-29]
This essay is a really good way to stimulate theories and ideas, enabling the reader to conduct further research on his or her own.

Thought It Would Be More Like A Book [Posted on 2007-01-21]
Wasn't much too it for the price and postage.

Has There Ever Been a More Profound Hypocrisy... [Posted on 2008-08-22]
...than Milton Friedman, the guru of neoliberalism AKA neoconservatism, prating about why government actions are the problem? This is the original "Chicago Boy" - the same Milton Friedman whose disciples laid economic plans for the military dictatorships of Indonesia, Chile, Argentina, and Brazil; the same Friedman who waxed enthusiastic about the "reforms" imposed from the top by General Pinochet! The same Friedman, by the way, whose ideas of economic Shock and Awe GWB has tried to unload on Iraq along with military occupation at the cost of lives and limbs of so many National Guard men and women.

If you want to understand Friedman's economic fundamentalism, take a look at "The Shock Doctrine" by Naomi Klein.

[Postscript on 10/25: I've subsequently reviewed Friedman's Monetary History of the USA in more detail than this. I refer you also to the comments by Mr. Alan Greenspan, published yesterday, concerning the failure of Friedmanite "prediction" regarding the economic meltdown of this month. Friedman has always asserted that "prediction of real world events" is the proper evaluator of economic thought; on that basis, his thought has dramatically failed.)

{Post-election postscript: It would seem that people are catching on to the failure of Friedmanesque public policy to maintain economic benefits for the mass of the populace. Check out the article by Paul Krugman in the NY Times on Nov. 7th. Also check out the report that John McCain, that disciple of Friedman, met and conferred with Pinochet at a critical moment.}

[Now that the Friedmanesque neo-con/libs are ranting about the "Obama Recession," isn't it time to take stock of free-market absolutism? When the American auto makers fold and the USA has no industrial capacity sufficient to maintain national security, will it then be time? When all the 403(b)s that were sold to the Baby Boomers as a sure route to luxurious retirement turn out to be of less value than the same money invested in a savings account or a stamp album? When? Friedman's monetarism reminds me more and more of Ptolemaic astronomy, all retrograde motions and epicycles.

Click here for more details and discount information...