Milton Friedman on the Economic Aftermath of 9/11
Peter Robinson ·
Sep 11, 2011 at 10:37am
On September 25, 2001, I sat down for an Uncommon Knowledge interview with the late great Milton Friedman in which I probed him on the economic impact of the war on terror. Many of his prognostications proved prescient. On the other hand, his basic prescription for the economic recession--chiefly that the government should not intervene, but instead let the market restore the economy--was largely ignored.
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Jun '11
Re: Milton Friedman on the Economic Aftermath of 9/11
Peter, I had forgotten about this interview. I went back and read the transcript and was amazed by how Friedman knew what was coming. His line "People overdo it" should be the motto of the past ten years,
Looking back, the saddest aspect of the post-9/11 spending spree was how cynical it became. More and more pork was ladled out simply to ensure votes in support for Iraq. This unprincipled feast laid the foundation for the Obama orgy to come.
War is indeed the health of the state.
May '10
Re: Milton Friedman on the Economic Aftermath of 9/11
Had we heeded his advice, there is a pretty good chance that we would have avoided or minimized the massive debt crisis the western world now faces. By not listening, the USA has created a market dependency on Fed "fixes," and has accumulated an un-payable debt, by Govt. attempting to replace demand lost by private balance sheet unwinding. As we enter into what I think will be some pretty dark days, it is interesting to note that, had we followed MF's common sense counsel, we could have largely avoided the "challenges" ahead. Will we ever learn? I fear not.