Milton Friedman, dead at 94

This came out just a few minutes ago. I was doing some reading just now for marketing class when I looked up at the refreshed WSJ.com front page and saw the news. I am going to write something quick before my carpool partner shows up.

Updated 4:14pm: To those familiar with his work, Milton Friedman espoused the classic free market idea, which is that in a free market, people (and companies) are free to choose. He wrote a book with the same name. What I like about the concept of freedom of choice is that it applies to every area of life, not just economics. For example, we are all free to choose when it comes to choices over our careers, friends, God, politics, right down to the companies and products we support with our consumer spending.

I find a striking parallel between this concept of free choice to the Christian concept of free will. Before I became a Christian, I once asked someone about God’s admonition to Adam and Eve at the Garden of Eden. I could not understand why He told them to not eat the apple when He had to know full well that they were going to do it anyway. The answer that came back was that He did it because He wanted them to exercise their free will; that instead of assuming they were going to eat the apple, He gave them not only the choice but also the information on that choice. Just yesterday I read Steve Forbes’ column in Forbes Magazine in which he recommended a book on how Christianity is responsible in no small part for the capitalistic societies we have in most of the Western world.

The last article Friedman wrote for the WSJ in October sums up his views on people and government very nicely:

“It had to happen. Hong Kong's policy of "positive noninterventionism" was too good to last. It went against all the instincts of government officials, paid to spend other people's money and meddle in other people's affairs. That's why it was sadly unsurprising to see Hong Kong's current leader, Donald Tsang, last month declare the death of the policy on which the territory's prosperity was built.”

Thanks Milton, for showing millions around the world that we are all free to choose.