Search Query: MILTON FRIEDMAN

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That Horrible Income Gap

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Karl Marx’s biggest selling point has always been his argument that workers are systematically underpaid under capitalism. They produce value and greedy capitalist owners cheat them out of it. Good economists have understood for centuries that in a free (and therefore competitive) labor market, it isn’t possible to underpay anyone for long. That fact, however, has never kept demagogues who need issues that will help them gain political power from telling people, “You’re not getting as much as you should. Vote for me and I’ll make sure you get your fair share!” That political pitch has never gone out of style, but it seemed to fade somewhat during the Clinton era. In 2005 and 2006, however, it roared back to prominence, thanks to some tendentious studies and advocacy journalism. Responding to all the chatter about the increasing unfairness of ...

Inflation Is Legalized Robbery, Part 1

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Part 1 | Part 2 Inflation. It’s the biggest problem in the world. — Paul Cabot, legendary money manager quoted in The Money Masters, by John Train. A dangerous specter once again haunts our economy, our pocketbooks, and the value of almost every asset. It is called inflation. And it is hurting us every day. It could also crush the hopes and dreams of millions of Americans engaged in any kind of spending, saving, or investment plans. That’s because our government, charged with curing or at least controlling it, is the source of the problem. Given a proper understanding of what inflation is — it is the debasement of a fiat currency through the overprinting of money without any stated limits — there is only ...

Housing Socialism, Part 1

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Part 1 | Part 2 In every country examined, the introduction and continuance of rent control/restriction has done much more harm than good in rental housing markets — let alone the economy at large — by perpetuating shortages, encouraging immobility, swamping consumer preferences, fostering dilapidation of housing stocks and eroding production incentives, distorting land use patterns and the allocation of scarce resources … and all in the name of distributive justice it has manifestly failed to achieve because at best it has been related only randomly to the needs and individual circumstances of households. — F.G. Pennance, Rent Control — A Public Paradox (The Fraser Institute; Vancouver, B.C., 1975) Imagine a job in which one’s salary could never be raised unless a ...