The central banks cannot control interest rates. That's a mistake. They can control a particular rate, such as the Federal Funds rate,… — Milton Friedman Copy Share Image
The real tragedy of minimum wage laws is that they are supported by well-meaning groups who want to reduce poverty. But the… — Milton Friedman Copy Share Image
If you really want to engage in policy activity, don't make that your vocation. Make it your avocation. Get a job. Get… — Milton Friedman Copy Share Image
I'm in favor of legalizing drugs. According to my values system, if people want to kill themselves, they have every right to… — Milton Friedman Copy Share Image
I want people to take thought about their condition and to recognize that the maintenance of a free society is a very… — Milton Friedman Copy Share Image
The difference between me and people like Murray Rothbard is that, though I want to know what my ideal is, I think… — Milton Friedman Copy Share Image
“A major source of objection to a free economy is precisely that it ... gives people what they want instead of what… — Milton Friedman Copy Share Image
We economists don't know much, but we do know how to create a shortage. If you want to create a shortage of… — Milton Friedman Copy Share Image
The lesson for Asia is; if you have a central bank, have a floating exchange rate; if you want to have a… — Milton Friedman Copy Share Image
I want people to take thought about their condition and to recognize that the maintainence of a free society is a very… — Milton Friedman Copy Share Image
Economists may not know much. But we know one thing very well: how to produce surpluses and shortages. Do you want a… — Milton Friedman Copy Share Image
If the government is to try and ban private consumption of alcohol and tobacco, it must surely ban such activities as hang-gliding,… — Milton Friedman Copy Share Image
Now here's somebody who wants to smoke a marijuana cigarette. If he's caught, he goes to jail. Now is that moral? Is… — Milton Friedman Copy Share Image
For example, the supporters of tariffs treat it as self-evident that the creation of jobs is a desirable end, in and of… — Milton Friedman Copy Share Image
Nobody spends somebody else's money as carefully as he spends his own. Nobody uses somebody else's resources as carefully as he uses… — Milton Friedman Copy Share Image
Even the most ardent environmentalist doesn't really want to stop pollution. If he thinks about it, and doesn't just talk about it,… — Milton Friedman Copy Share Image
What most people really object to when they object to a free market is that it is so hard for them to… — Milton Friedman Copy Share Image
The great virtue of a free market system is that it does not care what color people are; it does not care… — Milton Friedman Copy Share Image
The government solution to a problem is usually as bad as the problem. — Milton Friedman Copy Share Image
I believe the role that people like myself have played in the transformation of public opinion has been by persistently presenting a different point… — Milton Friedman Copy Share Image
To really understand something you've got to reduce it to its principles. — Milton Friedman Copy Share Image
It is a mark of how far we have gone on the road to serfdom that government allocation and rationing of oil is the… — Milton Friedman Copy Share Image
Economic freedom is an essential requisite for political freedom. By enabling people to cooperate with one another without coercion or central direction, it reduces… — Milton Friedman Copy Share Image
“The people in one district can choose not to reelect their member of Congress, but that will not change the composition of the government… — Milton Friedman Copy Share Image
When you have a time of crisis what happens depends on what ideas are floating around, and what ideas have been developed, and thought… — Milton Friedman Copy Share Image
The government doesn't have any money. The only power it has is to take from some and give to others. — Milton Friedman Copy Share Image
What would the people who sold us goods do with the money? They'd get dollars. What would they do with the dollars? Eat them?! — Milton Friedman Copy Share Image
World trade depends on differences among countries, not similarities. Different countries are in different stages of development. It is appropriate for them to have… — Milton Friedman Copy Share Image
Is there some society you know of that doesn't run on greed? You think Russia doesn't run on greed? You think China doesn't run… — Milton Friedman Copy Share Image
Well first of all, tell me, is there some society you know of that doesn't run on greed? You think Russia doesn't run on… — Milton Friedman Copy Share Image
