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Milton Friedman died today.

His book Capitalism and Freedom shocked me out of many of my preconceived policy notions, and should be read by anyone who wants to think more deeply and honestly about the way societies are or could be structured. Even if you disagree with some or all of Milton Friedman’s ideas (and most people are bound to disagree with many of them) they are powerful ideas and worth thinking about.

Milton Friedman not only thought in interesting ways, he rigorously avoided hypocrisy by consistently applying his ideas in a manner that often put him on opposing sides of the political spectrum. He might best be described as a libertarian. For example, Milton Friedman argued against expanding the power of government (the libertarian wing of the Republican party also seeks to limit government power), argued against drafting people against their will into military service (a policy supported by Vietnam war protestors), argued against price controls (price controls were supported by Richard Nixon), and argued against anti-drug laws (anti-drug laws are favored by both major political parties). Friedman argued all of these policies are limitations on individual freedom.

If you want to check out Milton Friedman’s ideas for yourself, many interviews with him are available on YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/results.php?search_query=%22milton+friedman%22) and on Google Video (http://video.google.com/videosearch?q=milton+friedman).

Detailed obituaries can be found at the NY Times (http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/16/business/17friedmancnd.html?ex=1321333200&en=c6bb7a3df4adbd5a&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss), Financial Times (http://www.ft.com/cms/s/cb74eef8-7599-11db-aea1-0000779e2340.html), and many other major news sources (http://news.google.com/news?ned=us&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&ncl=http://www.ft.com/cms/s/cb74eef8-7599-11db-aea1-0000779e2340.html).

Drug dealers, often glamorized by entertainment media, actually have a pretty terrible job, that pays most of them $3 an hour and within 4 years gives them a 25% chance of dying. That shocking mortality rate is actually a much worse chance of dying than if they were already sitting on death row!

This lecture by Freakonomics author Steven Levitt is very informative, rather funny, and quite horrifying:

http://www.ted.com/tedtalks/tedtalksplayer.cfm?key=s_levitt