Quote of the day–Milton Friedman

The most important single central fact about a free market is that no exchange takes place unless both parties benefit.


Milton Friedman
[As opposed to a government run market where exchanges take place at the point of a gun.–Joe]

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2 thoughts on “Quote of the day–Milton Friedman

  1. Friedman’s quote implies something that isn’t always true.

    “The most important single central fact about a free market is that no exchange takes place unless both parties benefit.”

    I think that this is closer to the truth — The most important single central fact about a free market is that no exchange takes place unless both parties BELIEVE THAT THEY WILL benefit.

  2. Hank; either way, the exchange is peaceable and un coerced. To advocate anything else is to advocate coercion for the sake of coercion, all rationalizations notwithstanding.

    It’s far too simple a concept for most people to understand, however, and so we think we can make other people’s decisions for them, better than they can make them for themselves. That, ladies and gentlemen, is the whole, entire problem, right there. We just cannot abide the notion of liberty. Few even know what it means.

    The fact that the freest markets are also the most peaceful and the most prosperous goes unnoticed amongst all the infinite nuance.

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