Timothy P. Carney made the observation today that the Left may be shifting its focus a little bit from a goal of big government as a check on the pursuit of profit to the goal of big government as a partner with business. See An expanding partnership between business and government.
So maybe this is a good time to bring out the late Milton Friedman, articulate and understandable, with his observations about government and business. Watch him here as he explains it to Phil Donahue. Here's the quote at about the 1:20 mark.
Friedman: So that the record of history is absolutely crystal clear, that there is no alternative way so far discovered of improving the lot of the ordinary people that can hold a candle to the productive activities that are unleashed by the free enterprise system.
Runner up quote of the day, same clip near the end -- To Donahue's argument that free enterprise doesn't reward virtue as much as it does the ability to manipulate the system, Friedman politely explains that government is not motivated by virtue, and ...
Friedman: Is it really true that political self interest is nobler somehow than economic self interest? ... Tell me where in the world do you find these angels who are going to organize society for you?
Donahue: Well ...
Friedman: I don't even trust you to do that.
He's right, of course. Government as a partner with business will simply reward those businesses that, to borrow Donahue's words, can manipulate the system at the expense of their competitors. We've got that already.
Comments