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11 sats \ 1 reply \ @kepford OP 10 Jul \ parent \ on: The Robber Baron Myth - Milton Friedman econ
My favorite story of his...
While traveling by car during one of his many overseas travels, Professor Milton Friedman spotted scores of road builders moving earth with shovels instead of modern machinery. When he asked why powerful equipment wasn't used instead of so many laborers, his host told him it was to keep employment high in the construction industry. If they used tractors or modern road building equipment, fewer people would have jobs was his host’s logic.
"Then instead of shovels, why don’t you give them spoons and create even more jobs?" Friedman inquired.
Not only was he clever but he had a lot of influence on powerful people of his time.
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43 sats \ 0 replies \ @Bell_curve 10 Jul
one of Milton Friedman’s most memorable rhetorical moments...
During the Vietnam War era, Friedman served on President Nixon’s Commission on an All-Volunteer Force, which was tasked with evaluating the feasibility of ending the military draft.
In a public hearing, General William Westmoreland, then commander of U.S. forces in Vietnam, expressed opposition to a volunteer military. He said he didn’t want to command “an army of mercenaries.” Friedman, never one to let a loaded term go unchallenged, replied:
“General, would you rather command an army of slaves?”
Westmoreland objected, saying he didn’t like hearing patriotic draftees referred to as slaves. Friedman shot back:
“I don’t like to hear patriotic volunteers referred to as mercenaries. If they are mercenaries, then I, sir, am a mercenary professor, and you, sir, are a mercenary general. We are served by mercenary physicians, we use a mercenary lawyer, and we get our meat from a mercenary butcher.”
Brilliant reply!
Let's just say General Westmoreland had no comeback, his clip was empty
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