Comments on: Old Dogs, New Tricks

By: mike

mike — Sun, 23 Jul 2006 14:57:45 +0000

I believe Friedman also said money supply should be decided by a formula (based on population and economic activity) administered by a computer. It’s still inflationary, but less than what we have now. In any case, it definitely is not new tricks.

By: Chris Meisenzahl

Chris Meisenzahl — Sun, 23 Jul 2006 08:08:36 +0000

I read that too, great interview!

Very happy to see the new interview upon opening the WSJ yesterday.
I commented on it here:
http://amateureconblog.blogspot.com/2006/07/wsj-interview-with-milton-friedman.html

By: Chris R.

Chris R. — Sun, 23 Jul 2006 07:01:37 +0000

“Friedman has been saying that for a long time.”

I have to agree. I dug up a couple of quotes from the late 1980′s:

July 1985:

“The Federal Reserve System puts a great deal of power in the hands of a few people and it is so constructed that it has been in their self-interest to pursue a policy which, I believe, has been very harmful for the public rather than helpful.”

1986 article with Anna Schwartz:

“Our own conclusion …is that leaving monetary and banking arrangements to the market would have produced a more satisfactory outcome than was actually achieved through government involvement.”

By: lucretius

lucretius — Sun, 23 Jul 2006 06:45:30 +0000

Friedman has been saying that for a long time. As far as I know every time they ask him this question, his answer is, Greenspan is very good, but the Fed is bad; if we must have the Fed, then Greenspan is the best man for the job.