I wish more talk radio hosts were like Milton. He is so pleasant to listen to as he does not yell or get fired up to falsely emphasize a point. I'm more focused on his content than his voice and volume.
betonomobotam, I agree with you completely. I remember Donahue from the early 90s and didn't take notice as I was young...however, I wish a show like this was around. it's damned inquisitive!
Agree completely with mesocat. I love Friedman and it's a great complement to Donahue to throw the premise down and let Friedman speak instead of them shouting at each other.
@vince33x Vince, what free market mechanism prevents the Chem Co from polluting? None, except government "force" as you call it. What concept can't I wrap around my mind around?
free trade and smaller government is so clearly the answer to economic growth and prosperity. It does not have to mean no government but less government and especially in the area of markets and trade. Friedman was a great spokesman for the best approach.
The problem as a small businessman is not so much unfair competition (one can actually turn that against big companies, eg. buy cheap from where a supermarket is selling below-cost and then sell expensively where they're not) but government regulations keeping the cost of setting up a business.
Please someone reply to my comment. The problem with what Milton Friedman says with eliminating tariffs on all imports is that the countries where those imports come from still have tariffs on exports from the United States, so you would in fact be giving an advantage to foreign companies.
Hypothetical conversation- Donahue: "Don't you think the state should protect the consumer from monopolies?" Friedman: "The government IS a monopoly." Donahue: *crickets*
@apnwahoowa In 1977 minimum wage was $2.00 an hour and gas was 50cents a gallon. Now minimum wage is around $8.00 and gas is well over $3 a gallon. Gas has definetely gone up in those time lines.
Friedman is simply brilliant!!! And he is as correct and relevant today as when this was recorded 30 years ago! Amazing, and great fun to watch! The US needs someone like him right now, but Krugman, Summer, Obaman etc got it all wrong, unfortunately.
I am an Austrian Economics fan....but Milton is still amazing. he had some pro-state views, but still put forth a great argument for free markets in a time dominated by "The Great Society"
@awishtofall Wrong. "On November 17, 2004, Kmart announced its intentions to purchase Sears. As a part of the merger, the Kmart Holdings Corporation would change its name to Sears Holdings Corporation. The new corporation announced that it would continue to operate stores under both the Sears and Kmart brands."
@jinheneamerican, I was never surprised by increased oil prices. I was just stating thatthere has been an increase in oil prices from 1977 til now even when inflation adjusted.
@apnwahoowa No, I read it correctly I believe, and my response to you is that it generally took a worker less hours of his time, or a less percentage of his weekly check to buy a gallon of gas in 1977 than it does now. Inflation adjusted, gas has gone up about 50 to 70% since 1977. In 77 a person making $2 an hour had to work 15 minutes for a gallon of gas. Today a person making $8 an hour needs to work almost a half hour for that same gallon of gas. Gas is up, not down, since 1977.
@RustyL121 I watched that on he does say that, so I stand corrected, He must have changed his opinion shortly before he died because he wasn't saying that before. Check out: "Milton Friedman: The Purpose of the Federal Reserve", and "the Gold Standard,". In both videos he talks about what the Fed should have done to avert the Great Depression but never mentions it should be abolished. These are Friedman's own videos. For most of his career, Friedman was not advocating to abolish the Fed.
@ItsAllAboutGuitar I have to disagree. There are specific cases where a collapse of government leads to chaos, as in the case of a riot or political revolution. Now those are specific cases, but they are exceptions to the rule. Now as a rule, a lot of social and economic chaos is caused by the government, but not all of it is.
Although I disagree with Donahue's positions he is at least clear and civil in his disagreements with Friedman. He is much better than the hacks in the american media these days.
@vince33x that's cool. I'v read pretty much everything from Ayn Rand, Milton Friedman: essays on positive economics. i'v read a little on Aristotelianism. but Ayn Rand has to be my biggest influence.
Let's say Walmart sets up in a medium-sized town, sells below cost until it dominates local retail sector, then starts raising prices... That opens up the playing field again for small businesses. Unless the cost of setting up a new business is too high, one could set up a new specialist store competing on even terms in prices and offering new specialist goods. If Wal-mart chose to sell at a loss indefinitely for a town how can it be in the interests of that town to stop Wal-mart doing that?
@mgcdanny ...Secondly, what this circumstance creates for me, you, or any other person or company or entity that has less cash flow than it would like is to allocate resources efficiently. In order that everything I had to spend money on was fulfilled, I would do such things as cutting out unnecessary driving, clipping coupons, hunting down sales, SAVING (most importantly), and the like. Deserving or not doesn't enter into it.
@666sigma you gotta give donahoe credit. He lets friedman talk and put his case forward. you compare that to olberman today-but then again, olberman would never let a milton friedman on his show: friedman is too smart
and here... A resurgent Kmart, home of the blue light special, is buying the once-dominant Sears department store chain in a surprising $11 billion gamble it is counting on to help both better compete with Wal-Mart and other big-box retailers.
@billyboy630 I think perhaps this perspective you hold comes from a place of emotion itself. To see the world in fundamentally decisive terms like "leftism" is, in my opinion, to miss the big picture and the full scope of what is going on. The issues are complicated and we all loose focus on them when we cluster important information into a group of people that we disagree with and so ignore.
I just can't help wondering why shows like these disappeared.. It's a god honest discussion, no one's yelling, and if I'm not mistaken Donahue was syndicated, so it wasn't an obscure show someone made in their basement.. The culture of dialogue disappeared
@brad238899 The Federal Reserve has in fact kept inflation quite low, and $1 in 1979 is worth $2.96 in 2010, so the price of gas has kept somewhat stable. Also 1979 was the year when the strong inflation that started in 1972 was reined in through hard Fed policies. Look at other countries, even in the developed world, the US has had a history of very stable prices.
@emilylouisechurchos 'The Shock Doctrine' is a well-researched book which provides some excellent examples of how free-market ideas have been abused and misused by various governments around the world. Some might accuse her of cherry-picking, however, as she does not talk about former Soviet Bloc countries in eastern Europe who democratically, peacefully and successfully implemented many of Friedmans ideas.
@LadyScorpio39 Thanks for the comment but that was sarcasm. We need people like Freidman today. Anyone who uses his logic now are considered heartless or crazy. America is in trouble
There are several instances in this video clip where Dr. Friedman leaves Donahue perplexed though. I also dispute your assertion that Donahue is somehow playing 'devil's advocate' considering that Donahue is pretty liberal/progressive to begin with and disagrees with the principles of Dr. Friedman's theories.
That was brutal to watch. I don't particularly agree with all or even most of what Friedman expouses, but his utter destruction and effortless obliteration of Donahue here was profound. That doesn't make him right. But in order to provide a proper balance to the issue, you're going to have to find someone more powerful than Donahue to take on this monster.
you mean google it and find this..."On November 17, 2004, Kmart Holdings Corporation announced its intention to purchase Sears, Roebuck and Co. The new corporation announced that it would continue to operate stores under both the Sears and Kmart brands. The merger of Kmart and Sears closed on March 24, 2005, following affirmative shareholder votes of both companies.
I enjoyed Friedman, but he missed this one. On August 15, 1971, the United States unilaterally terminated convertibility of the dollar to gold. This action, referred to as the Nixon shock, created the situation in which the United States dollar became the sole backing of currencies and a reserve currency for the member states. Real or perceived , OPEC used this as a reason to question the value of the dollar, and charge more for a barrel of oil.
@Martial024 I am referencing the time this was produced. And only did the true facts of smoking being the cause of cancer get spread via the government and or forcing tobacco companies to place warning on their packages. The industry would have never educated their customers on this. Milton Friedman's ideal scenario would only work if people couldn't lie when making a trade of whatever sort and everybody was highly educated on the things they purchased.
Inflation is the cause not the symptom. The Fed's primary job is to "keep prices stable." As a result of declining prices, due to increasing efficiency in production, the Fed prints money in order to keep prices relatively stable. This preceded the crash in 1929 and kick-started the housing boom and inevitable bust after the dot com bubble. By artificially keeping prices stable, it misallocates resources that inevitably leads to a market correction. The only question is the extent & duration.
It's akin to someone saying that keeping all of your money in the bank is a great decision in the long run. You ask them "why?" They say "well, your money grew, thus it was an intelligent policy." They make no mention or show any comprehension of the money holders alternatives. One such alternative is to invest in a diverse portfolio in the stock market. Now, ofc you're victim to short-term volatility, but in the long run there's no question you'll get a higher growth rate through stocks.
LIsten to all the people clapping. Eveyone in the middle class embraced these ideas during the 80's. That's why the 90's were so great. Practically paradise on earth for a larger percentage of people than today. Then along came clinton...
@vince33x Hahaha. Trick question. Depends on what you mean by "better." Under some conditions, yes. Others, no. The free market does not work well under three conditions: 1) where externalities (like pollution) are prevalent 2) Monopolies exist 3) Asymmetric information is present. For lots of stuff markets are great at reaching Pareto Optimal outcomes. That is the first fundamental theorem of economics. And if Pareto Optimal is your be-all-end-all, then free markets is the way to go.
i miss donahue! back in those days talk show hosts were respectful to there guests, and the topics were of interest. now days, all we get is crazy people whining about there problems, looking for attention.
Why should the federal government say what we can and cannot buy? It should be up to the state government, something we have a bigger voice in. The government is there to serve us, not the other way around.
Henry Ford raised workers' wages not just so they could buy cars, but so there would be a lower turnover. Ford was hiring 52,000 people every year even though Ford only had 14,000 positions.
This sort of show would never happen now, mainly because the mainstream media in the U.S. would never allow it. Any sort of conservative, fact-based opinion is stifled now in the U.S. media. Gotta give credit to Donahue in 1979 to have Milton Friedman on his show. No media executives would ever allow this today.
What's funny is that K-Mart did buy Sears years later. And what of it? Maybe the government should have bailed out Sears and sent in a bunch of government bureaucrats to show them how to compete in the market place. I'm sure that would have worked great.
@vince33x No. You got it backward. Milton- and other free market ideologists- make value judgments solely on levels of wealth. I was considering other factors, in particular, one man's health as compared to another man's pleasure. Those 'other' factors never enter the equation for Milton et al. Second, I never made a value judgment. I posed an insightful question, which you did not supply an answer for. Who do you think deserves the gas?
@julsbar Since you seem to appreciate titles so much, you should hear what another nobel laureate, Richard Feynman said about authority. Just giving someone a medal doesn't mean shit.
I wish more talk radio hosts were like Milton. He is so pleasant to listen to as he does not yell or get fired up to falsely emphasize a point. I'm more focused on his content than his voice and volume.
Amazing to watch this. Recorded 30 years ago, it sounds like it was yesterday. Truly genius.
betonomobotam, I agree with you completely. I remember Donahue from the early 90s and didn't take notice as I was young...however, I wish a show like this was around.
it's damned inquisitive!
R.I.P. Friedman...we need a man like this today.
Agree completely with mesocat. I love Friedman and it's a great complement to Donahue to throw the premise down and let Friedman speak instead of them shouting at each other.
This needs to be viewed by younger generations. I miss Milton freidman
@92spectrum I love the questions and challenges Donahue gives in interviews
home come i dont see shows like this anymore?
@vince33x
Vince, what free market mechanism prevents the Chem Co from polluting? None, except government "force" as you call it. What concept can't I wrap around my mind around?
We need a hundred Milton Freidmans now
"Can Sears buy K-mart?"
"OF COURSE!"
I laughed out loud on that part... because, now, they have!
It's amazing to see him just calmly grin as he is blowing someone's ideas out of the water.
you are the one who brought it up. You fix it.
free trade and smaller government is so clearly the answer to economic growth and prosperity. It does not have to mean no government but less government and especially in the area of markets and trade. Friedman was a great spokesman for the best approach.
Great video!
I absolutely love to listening to this ma talk!
"Even though we're appalled with the price of gasoline, which is over a dollar a gallon ..." I think I'm gonna cry.
@agentssith how is that any different than any other system?
The problem as a small businessman is not so much unfair competition (one can actually turn that against big companies, eg. buy cheap from where a supermarket is selling below-cost and then sell expensively where they're not) but government regulations keeping the cost of setting up a business.
oh milton...you are were what made this country great! defend liberty people!
Please someone reply to my comment. The problem with what Milton Friedman says with eliminating tariffs on all imports is that the countries where those imports come from still have tariffs on exports from the United States, so you would in fact be giving an advantage to foreign companies.
Hypothetical conversation-
Donahue: "Don't you think the state should protect the consumer from monopolies?"
Friedman: "The government IS a monopoly."
Donahue: *crickets*
@apnwahoowa In 1977 minimum wage was $2.00 an hour and gas was 50cents a gallon. Now minimum wage is around $8.00 and gas is well over $3 a gallon. Gas has definetely gone up in those time lines.
@RustyL121 Thanks for the info.
Friedman is simply brilliant!!! And he is as correct and relevant today as when this was recorded 30 years ago! Amazing, and great fun to watch! The US needs someone like him right now, but Krugman, Summer, Obaman etc got it all wrong, unfortunately.
I am an Austrian Economics fan....but Milton is still amazing. he had some pro-state views, but still put forth a great argument for free markets in a time dominated by "The Great Society"
"I let go of all desire for the common good, and the good becomes as common as the grass." - Lao Tzu
Freedom is one of those timeless things. It will always be relevant as long as humans exist.
@awishtofall
Wrong.
"On November 17, 2004, Kmart announced its intentions to purchase Sears. As a part of the merger, the Kmart Holdings Corporation would change its name to Sears Holdings Corporation. The new corporation announced that it would continue to operate stores under both the Sears and Kmart brands."
@jinheneamerican, I was never surprised by increased oil prices. I was just stating thatthere has been an increase in oil prices from 1977 til now even when inflation adjusted.
@dccoop2009
No I was pointing out awishtofall was wrong. Kmart changed its name to sears. Kmart did buy sears.
Got to hand it to Donahue for being respectful to Friedman he knew he was in the presence of greatness
@XF540 I was thinking the same thing! How prophetic that he said those things.
Milton Friedman is the best!
@2wheels88 and it very well may be here soon as well friend...
@brucerby Donahue was the one that brought up the possibility of Kmart buying Sears.
@apnwahoowa No, I read it correctly I believe, and my response to you is that it generally took a worker less hours of his time, or a less percentage of his weekly check to buy a gallon of gas in 1977 than it does now. Inflation adjusted, gas has gone up about 50 to 70% since 1977. In 77 a person making $2 an hour had to work 15 minutes for a gallon of gas. Today a person making $8 an hour needs to work almost a half hour for that same gallon of gas. Gas is up, not down, since 1977.
@RustyL121 I watched that on he does say that, so I stand corrected, He must have changed his opinion shortly before he died because he wasn't saying that before. Check out: "Milton Friedman: The Purpose of the Federal Reserve", and "the Gold Standard,". In both videos he talks about what the Fed should have done to avert the Great Depression but never mentions it should be abolished. These are Friedman's own videos. For most of his career, Friedman was not advocating to abolish the Fed.
I work at sears, and I'm quitting because their pay is so meagre and unlivable. They havn't given raises to employees for three years where I work.
@ItsAllAboutGuitar I have to disagree. There are specific cases where a collapse of government leads to chaos, as in the case of a riot or political revolution. Now those are specific cases, but they are exceptions to the rule. Now as a rule, a lot of social and economic chaos is caused by the government, but not all of it is.
@vince33x haha. Okay i get it. Are you a fan of Objectivism by chance?
Ford's willingness to sell a lesser product for less money to a larger market only makes Ford an amazing entrepreneur and capitalist.
What does that even mean, sir?
I love how Milton stops Donahue when he is making fact-less statements.
Milton - 100
Donahue - ZERO
@jtrue71 lol i love the "very dim bulb" analogy.
$1 in 1979 is around 3.75 or 4.00 today.
@IHeartDenver I have heard him a lot.
@sintruder
they did, in 2004? milton made quite a prediction!
9:20: "Can Sears buy Kmart?" Yes Phil, wait 26 years.
No matter what you think about Friedman, a man with his beliefs would never get on a tv show like this now.
I love that man. He is wrong about some things here and there, but I still love him.
Although I disagree with Donahue's positions he is at least clear and civil in his disagreements with Friedman. He is much better than the hacks in the american media these days.
Dr. Friedman makes sense to me.
@vince33x that's cool. I'v read pretty much everything from Ayn Rand, Milton Friedman: essays on positive economics. i'v read a little on Aristotelianism. but Ayn Rand has to be my biggest influence.
Let's say Walmart sets up in a medium-sized town, sells below cost until it dominates local retail sector, then starts raising prices... That opens up the playing field again for small businesses. Unless the cost of setting up a new business is too high, one could set up a new specialist store competing on even terms in prices and offering new specialist goods.
If Wal-mart chose to sell at a loss indefinitely for a town how can it be in the interests of that town to stop Wal-mart doing that?
Nice @9:12 - Can Sears buy K-Mart too?
How times change.
@apnwahoowa You are right but that is economic growth and productivity. Inflation is nominal prices, not what you are talking about.
Ironic that K-Mart DID buy Sears thirty years later...
@megabraddotcom Wow, great catch!
@sniped101 The internet is where to find stuff like this now
R.I.P. Friedman...we need a man like this today.
@9:00ish, does that mean we didn't have to bail out the companies that we did?
@mgcdanny
...Secondly, what this circumstance creates for me, you, or any other person or company or entity that has less cash flow than it would like is to allocate resources efficiently. In order that everything I had to spend money on was fulfilled, I would do such things as cutting out unnecessary driving, clipping coupons, hunting down sales, SAVING (most importantly), and the like.
Deserving or not doesn't enter into it.
@666sigma you gotta give donahoe credit. He lets friedman talk and put his case forward. you compare that to olberman today-but then again, olberman would never let a milton friedman on his show: friedman is too smart
and here... A resurgent Kmart, home of the blue light special, is buying the once-dominant Sears department store chain in a surprising $11 billion gamble it is counting on to help both better compete with Wal-Mart and other big-box retailers.
Interesting take on tariffs.
Soooooooo familiar!~
Well I like a good episode of Maury from time to time, but this stuff is awesome
:D
@billyboy630 I think perhaps this perspective you hold comes from a place of emotion itself. To see the world in fundamentally decisive terms like "leftism" is, in my opinion, to miss the big picture and the full scope of what is going on. The issues are complicated and we all loose focus on them when we cluster important information into a group of people that we disagree with and so ignore.
I just can't help wondering why shows like these disappeared.. It's a god honest discussion, no one's yelling, and if I'm not mistaken Donahue was syndicated, so it wasn't an obscure show someone made in their basement.. The culture of dialogue disappeared
@joaquinveyron
I guess just because were not very strict when it comes to normal conversation
@brad238899 The Federal Reserve has in fact kept inflation quite low, and $1 in 1979 is worth $2.96 in 2010, so the price of gas has kept somewhat stable. Also 1979 was the year when the strong inflation that started in 1972 was reined in through hard Fed policies. Look at other countries, even in the developed world, the US has had a history of very stable prices.
This feels like a university lecture ... and bless Donahue ... he is out of his depth!
@emilylouisechurchos 'The Shock Doctrine' is a well-researched book which provides some excellent examples of how free-market ideas have been abused and misused by various governments around the world. Some might accuse her of cherry-picking, however, as she does not talk about former Soviet Bloc countries in eastern Europe who democratically, peacefully and successfully implemented many of Friedmans ideas.
@LadyScorpio39 Thanks for the comment but that was sarcasm. We need people like Freidman today. Anyone who uses his logic now are considered heartless or crazy. America is in trouble
20 thousand people in the Department of Energy back in 1979?
Man, those were the good o' days !
It's almost refreshing to listen to someone who speaks in billions of dollars. It's a shame what this country has become....
There are several instances in this video clip where Dr. Friedman leaves Donahue perplexed though. I also dispute your assertion that Donahue is somehow playing 'devil's advocate' considering that Donahue is pretty liberal/progressive to begin with and disagrees with the principles of Dr. Friedman's theories.
That was brutal to watch. I don't particularly agree with all or even most of what Friedman expouses, but his utter destruction and effortless obliteration of Donahue here was profound. That doesn't make him right. But in order to provide a proper balance to the issue, you're going to have to find someone more powerful than Donahue to take on this monster.
you mean google it and find this..."On November 17, 2004, Kmart Holdings Corporation announced its intention to purchase Sears, Roebuck and Co. The new corporation announced that it would continue to operate stores under both the Sears and Kmart brands. The merger of Kmart and Sears closed on March 24, 2005, following affirmative shareholder votes of both companies.
I enjoyed Friedman, but he missed this one. On August 15, 1971, the United States unilaterally terminated convertibility of the dollar to gold. This action, referred to as the Nixon shock, created the situation in which the United States dollar became the sole backing of currencies and a reserve currency for the member states. Real or perceived , OPEC used this as a reason to question the value of the dollar, and charge more for a barrel of oil.
@Martial024 I am referencing the time this was produced. And only did the true facts of smoking being the cause of cancer get spread via the government and or forcing tobacco companies to place warning on their packages. The industry would have never educated their customers on this. Milton Friedman's ideal scenario would only work if people couldn't lie when making a trade of whatever sort and everybody was highly educated on the things they purchased.
@vince33x hmmm i hate to say it, but u do have a point there.
Friedman was brilliant. He even predicts K-Mart buying Sears. Just before the 10 minute mark in the video.
@vince33x What's wrong with the 19th amendment?
Inflation is the cause not the symptom. The Fed's primary job is to "keep prices stable." As a result of declining prices, due to increasing efficiency in production, the Fed prints money in order to keep prices relatively stable. This preceded the crash in 1929 and kick-started the housing boom and inevitable bust after the dot com bubble. By artificially keeping prices stable, it misallocates resources that inevitably leads to a market correction. The only question is the extent & duration.
It's akin to someone saying that keeping all of your money in the bank is a great decision in the long run. You ask them "why?" They say "well, your money grew, thus it was an intelligent policy." They make no mention or show any comprehension of the money holders alternatives. One such alternative is to invest in a diverse portfolio in the stock market. Now, ofc you're victim to short-term volatility, but in the long run there's no question you'll get a higher growth rate through stocks.
LIsten to all the people clapping. Eveyone in the middle class embraced these ideas during the 80's. That's why the 90's were so great. Practically paradise on earth for a larger percentage of people than today. Then along came clinton...
@vince33x
Hahaha. Trick question. Depends on what you mean by "better." Under some conditions, yes. Others, no. The free market does not work well under three conditions: 1) where externalities (like pollution) are prevalent 2) Monopolies exist 3) Asymmetric information is present. For lots of stuff markets are great at reaching Pareto Optimal outcomes. That is the first fundamental theorem of economics. And if Pareto Optimal is your be-all-end-all, then free markets is the way to go.
9:25 EPIC FORESIGHT
i miss donahue!
back in those days talk show hosts were respectful to there guests, and the topics were of interest.
now days, all we get is crazy people whining about there problems, looking for attention.
Why should the federal government say what we can and cannot buy? It should be up to the state government, something we have a bigger voice in. The government is there to serve us, not the other way around.
Not only that but Wal Mart was quietly growing in the wings even as K-Mart was crushing Sears at this time. Friedman was very right.
Henry Ford raised workers' wages not just so they could buy cars, but so there would be a lower turnover. Ford was hiring 52,000 people every year even though Ford only had 14,000 positions.
This sort of show would never happen now, mainly because the mainstream media in the U.S. would never allow it. Any sort of conservative, fact-based opinion is stifled now in the U.S. media. Gotta give credit to Donahue in 1979 to have Milton Friedman on his show. No media executives would ever allow this today.
"Obviously not" LOL I could listen to him all day long.
What's funny is that K-Mart did buy Sears years later. And what of it? Maybe the government should have bailed out Sears and sent in a bunch of government bureaucrats to show them how to compete in the market place. I'm sure that would have worked great.
@brad238899 In 1964 it was 25 cents a gallon.
You use the word "legally". You seem to have missed the point. Legal means legal, not efficient or optimal.
@vince33x
No. You got it backward.
Milton- and other free market ideologists- make value judgments solely on levels of wealth. I was considering other factors, in particular, one man's health as compared to another man's pleasure. Those 'other' factors never enter the equation for Milton et al.
Second, I never made a value judgment. I posed an insightful question, which you did not supply an answer for. Who do you think deserves the gas?
@julsbar Since you seem to appreciate titles so much, you should hear what another nobel laureate, Richard Feynman said about authority. Just giving someone a medal doesn't mean shit.