Professor Friedman, RIP

Nobel winner Milton Friedman dies at 94

SAN FRANCISCO -- Milton Friedman, a brilliant champion of free-market economics and individual freedom who almost single-handedly altered the boundaries of public debate on an array of national issues, died today in San Francisco. He was 94.

The circumstances of his death were not immediately available.

"America has lost a true visionary and advocate for human freedom," said Gordon St. Angelo, president and CEO of the Milton and Rose D. Friedman Foundation.

"Milton's passion for freedom and liberty has influenced more lives than he ever could possibly know. His writings and ideas have transformed the minds of U.S. presidents, world leaders, entrepreneurs and freshmen economic majors alike."

Friedman was considered a leading economic thinker of the 20th century. His many prescriptions for policy, notably on managing the nation's money supply and curbing the welfare state, influenced presidents and presidential candidates dating back to the 1960s. His sweeping, pro-capitalist ideas earned him legions of followers domestically and overseas, while also sparking dissent and controversy.

Friedman was awarded the Nobel Prize in economics in 1976 for a body of "original and weighty work," including his money supply research, which jurors said had influenced fellow scholars as well as the U.S. Federal Reserve and the central banks of other nations.

Friedman's influence extended far beyond the ivory tower. He became an economist-celebrity, promoting his passionate beliefs in books, magazines and television appearances. With confidence and a professor's logic, he sought to demolish the conventional wisdom after World War II that government must play a sweeping role in people's lives.

Taxes, he said, should be cut and simplified. Society benefits when personal choice reigns supreme.

"My world will not be the same," said former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan in a statement today. "He had been a fixture in my life both professionally and personally for half a century."

Ed Crane, president of the Cato Institute, commented today on Friedman's life and legacy: "Here's a guy who won the Nobel Prize in economics for his work in monetary theory and he was a great Chicagoan, a great empiricist and theoretician of economics. But ultimately, what Milton believed in was human liberty and he took great joy in trying to promote that concept.... Milton would say, 'Maybe I did well and maybe I led the battle, but nobody ever said we were going to win this thing at any point in time. Eternal vigilance is required and there have to be people who step up to the plate, who believe in liberty and who are willing to fight for it.' "

Friedman had an uncanny ability to discern issues before most others, framing political battles decades before they flared publicly.

In the 1960s, he argued that personal retirement accounts made more sense than a mandatory system of Social Security, helping set the stage for the recent national debate. Similarly, he contended that parents should be allowed to choose what schools their children attend, laying the foundation for ongoing arguments about school choice.

"Why do America's universities have a greater reputation around the world than its public schools?" he once asked aloud. "You have choice. That makes all the difference in the world."

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America -- the World -- has lost one of its best minds.

Friedman, like Hayek before him, influenced generations of policymakers -- Reagan and Thatcher spring to mind -- who veered their automobiles of state away from the toll road to serfdom.

His Free to Choose was integral in our taking up permanent residence in the laissez-faire camp.

Friedman cannot properly be called a "conservative". Rather, he espoused the ideals of "classical liberalism" first enunciated by Locke, Smith and Bastiat.

Here's hoping that this generation can complete his impressive legacy by codifying Friedman's ideas on personal retirement accounts and school choice.

Thank you and Godspeed, Professor Friedman.