Korean Job Discussion Forums

On the other hand · Joined: 19 Apr 2003 Location: I walk along the avenue

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,230004,00.html

ontheway · Posted: Thu Nov 16, 2006 11:41 am Post subject:

A truly great man. He should have been President.

Nambucaveman · Joined: 03 Aug 2006

I read somewhere this morning that Greenspan got quiet a bit of his influence from Friedman. While I never knew that much about him, he will be missed.

Adventurer · Joined: 28 Jan 2006

A brilliant mind, Milton Friedman was, to the end. He wrote work that was controversial at the time and saying that inflation was not caused by unions or workers, per se, speaking to the people who thought a freeze to wages was a solution to problems, but it had to do with the supply of money. Of course, those who are against government spending might point to Friedman to justify themselves, but we also know that spending also stimulates the economy. There is the notion that full employment will create inflation and the Central Bank of Canada and Federal Reserve long abandoned the idea of the full employment.

Slep · Joined: 14 Oct 2006

Got his start supporting Pinochet in Chile and advising him on economics.
Great guy...sure Rolling Eyes

thepeel · Joined: 08 Aug 2004

happeningthang · Joined: 26 Apr 2003

VanIslander · Posted: Fri Nov 17, 2006 3:53 am Post subject:

Wasn't he the guy who spoke out against Bush and his party's policies not long ago?

cwemory · Joined: 14 Jan 2006 Location: Gunpo, Korea

As a commentator on NPR noted, he was an absolutist regarding his libertarian views, so he was simultaneously embraced and rejecyed by both sides of the political spectrum. While many conservatives use many of his economic writings to justify their views on the economy, they are almost certainly abhor his views on legalising prostitution. While liberals applaud his opinions on the decriminalization of drugs, they are disgusted by his support of laissez-faire capitalism. He was criticised by communists for the lectures he gave in Chile in the mid 70s and he was criticised by anticommunist for giving the same lectures in China in the mid 90s. Like many "brilliant minds", he was both admired and despised in equal measure.

Adventurer · Joined: 28 Jan 2006

I frankly am a Keynsian. I am on the side of demand side economics, but only to a point. Friedman added to Keynsian ideas, in a certain sense, by saying that we should monitor carefully how the government circulates money, and if it does too much of it, it will spark inflation, and there has to be more monetary control.

However, if you go to heavy against inflation, there are certain societal consequences. I do not believe in neo-liberalism and supply side economics and being extremely close to laissez-faire economics because of the nefarious side of leaving too many people in a society vulnerable or excessively vulnerable which has happened in Chile under Pinochet, though Chile's GDP did grow. What you can gain from Friedman definitely is there needs to be a restraint on inflation, one cannot really use monetary tools for the purpose of creating full employment. We do have a problem, though, with the fiscal side, not the monetary policy.

Slep · Joined: 14 Oct 2006

sundubuman · Joined: 04 Feb 2003 Location: seoul

well, Chile is far and away the greatest economic success in South America.....too bad that socialism took such a toll on the rest of the continent....

Socialism...when intellectuals sit at their desks telling everyone what they should do.....and the rest suffer interminably.........yet have the pleasure to pay their intellectual overlords in exhorbitant taxes.......

thepeel · Joined: 08 Aug 2004

Slep · Joined: 14 Oct 2006