# Milton Freidman - with Donohue 30 yrs ago - discusses capitalism



## dubmac (Jan 9, 2011)

Interesting interview excerpt of an interview with Milton Friedeman (sp?) (2.5 min long) - the two are discussing the merits and greed inherent in capitalism. interesting given that is was taped over 30 yrs ago! 

Note: I don't know much about Friedeman's politics - other than he has been vilified and championed by many - I have not posted this as a political statement.

http://dauckster.posterous.com/a-31-year-old-video-clip-absolutely-worth-you


----------



## KaeJS (Sep 28, 2010)

Great clip.


----------



## MoneyGal (Apr 24, 2009)

Fascinating guy, and his son is pretty darned interesting, too.


----------



## carverman (Nov 8, 2010)

dubmac said:


> Interesting interview excerpt of an interview with Milton Friedeman ( - the two are discussing the merits and greed inherent in capitalism. interesting given that is was taped over 30 yrs ago!


From the 2.5 minute clip...I think that from his viewpoint there is a lot of relevance to "self interest" whether it be political, ideological or economic.
In some cases those three paradigms can be rolled up into one.

Take Hitler and his political views that the Jews where responsible for Germany's loses/defeat in their WWI war efforts, their humiliating defeat /armistice signed at a railcar in France, the suffering of the German people saddled with
reparations after the war , the Allied imposed restrictions of Germany's military buildup during the twenties leading up to the early 30ths... when his political views
became Nazi ideology, and from that tried to exterminate a race of people (European Jews and any other races they considered to be sub-human). The Nazi
political ideology became a paradigm shift for all loyal Germans and a "way of life" for the nation right to the
end of the WWII, when Germany under the leadership
of one politically motivated maniac refused to accept defeat again...in front of the Allies, fighting to the
bitter end, while Hitler dictated a "scorched earth policy" (from the safety of his Berlin bunker...to deny what
was left of Germany (after the Allied bombings) to recover with whomever was left. He stated, "there is no future
left for Germany, they (the people) have failed me..
the good have already fallen for the Fatherland..and there is nothing left that is of any value." 

This is a prime example when an entire nation believes in an ideology and is willing to follow a leader right into their graves because of that belief. 

Some examples from this video:

His statement "everything you do in life is based on a habit" is also quite true..right from the moment you wake up until the point you fall asleep..or take your last breath, is based on habits you have learned from childhood,
or changes to those habits by some external influences in your life.

His statement "is political self interest any different from economic self interest"? 

Wars, whether they are started by a dictator meglo-maniac or a president elected by the the people of a nation, have both components..
in war there are economic winners, (arms manufacturers, industrial capitalists and general population workers (jobs) that benefit from the war effort)..consider the millions upon millions of shells, tanks, airplanes, ships, aircraft carriers, and yes... even the pawns (soldiers/airman/sailors) that were lost. What did that loss represent in terms of
economic productivity dollars to the winning nations? 

And there are losers.... What does Germany's/Italy's and Japan's losses represent in economic terms (destroyed infrastructure, loss of production, devastated economies and high unemployment), mean to them, and how did they manage to recover so fast?

From capitalist ideas after the war (Marshall plan etc) western involvement and financial help with the war torn nations helped to get them back on their feet again quicker
than Russia that decided to continue to oppose the west,
think that their form of communism was better. 

Even though Russians (USSR) loses were even greater than Germany's..they did not have a deposed dictator to change their political ways, so continued in their dictatorial political ideology to the cold war, and a lifestyle that still tied them the old pre-war days and didn't start to change until the Berlin wall came tumbling down.

His statement " what society doesn't run on greed? The world runs on individuals running their own separate self interests"..

...pretty much summarizes what has happened and what is happening today,
and what will happen in the future, as long as mankind is still around.


----------



## donald (Apr 18, 2011)

Its always the other guy thats greedy.....where are you going to find these angels?......i like that... kinda like before you take the speck out of your brothers eye remove yours first.....alot of truth that guy speaks.


----------



## carverman (Nov 8, 2010)

The other thing about human greed (one of the seven deadly sins mentioned in the bible) is that it can manifest itself in different levels in individuals..

With each Christmas season, the classic picture of "greed" is shown to us over and over again..with the two famous pictures that represent that quality.... and whether there is still hope that people can change. 

The first one is the classic Dickens tale, appropriately given the title of "A Christmas Carol". "Scrooge"..and through the years how that term now represents a person who hoards money and how their life revolves around 
that only thing being important in their life.. 

Scrooge started out normally in life, and even had a sweetheart at one time, but then he got into the business of money lending as a apprentice accountant with a partner,
Marley. After the partner died...his greed and love
of money took over his life......."scooooooooge!" the apparition in chains moans at him.."these were the chains in my life...that I wear now"...or something like that.

"..and he whispered to all, as his sleigh grew out of sight,,
Merry Christmas to all..and to all...a good night!"


----------



## dubmac (Jan 9, 2011)

what I found interesting about the interview was how friedman separates the forces that drive the free market economy (individual initaitive, creativity) from the power structures & governments that (we) establish (democracy). 

He suggests that the US government does not promote virtuosity (read fairness). He seems to suggest that the US politicians of the 1980's are self-interested (where will you find these angels? - no surpises here) and are perhaps in opposition to the free market economy.

I have a friend, an AC pilot, whose family was from Chile. I asked him about Chile's troubles in the early 1970's (Pinochet) - he suggested to me that many of the troubles started when Chilean born, US educated economists changed the system to a free market system. having listened to Friedman however, I'm more inclined to believe that Pinochet simply used the chaos of the time as an opportunity to seize power, and kill all of the left-leaning opposition to him


----------



## donald (Apr 18, 2011)

Ive read the bios on the robber barons(john d rockefeller,j.p morgan,jason gould,frick,carnegie and others)

Most of the world deemed these men as heartless,greedy,scum.

Its interesting when you dig deep into some of these mens lives and early circumstances(rockefellers father was a crook and a con man,carnegie grew up in adject poverty)

When you peel back the layers alot of these men were more generous and had heavy hearts....Rockefeller is a extreamly good bio(titan)alot of these men were grossly misunderstood and villified by the mass....Carnegie was a fascinating.


----------

