Milton Friedman

Have you come to Libertas Bella looking for an economist who didn’t advocate for a free market? Fat chance. Milton Friedman was the economic system’s biggest fan, and if anyone tried to sass him about his position he could simply ask them if they had a Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences.

Friedman was a fierce opponent of Keynesian economics, which hold that the government has an obligation to ferry capitalism through periods of recession. He channeled Adam Smith as he rebuked Keynes’ position, asserting that the free market does not in fact require propping up by any horde of bureaucrats with no skin in the game. While world leaders are typically loathe to relinquish power, Friedman found willing audiences in Reagan and Thatcher and helped to shape Western economic policy as we know it today.

As a leader of the Chicago school of economics, Friedman fostered an academic environment that gave rise to scholars capable of rebuking the East Coast schools’ liberal ideals. He thought little of the Federal Reserve and championed its replacement by a computer algorithm. In his cavalcade of scholarly articles he argued for giving people more freedom – allowing school choice, abolishing the draft, and ceasing military intervention abroad.

Had Friedman ever actually tried smoking marijuana? It is highly unlikely. Pot smokers are seldom able to tie their neckties as immaculately as Friedman did. But a libertarian to his core, he opposed the war on drugs so that Americans might one day properly enjoy Steely Dan records without breaking the law.

Summarizing the life’s work of a man like Milton Friedman is like trying to catch Niagara Falls in a drinking glass. Nearly every modern libertarian ideal echoes his thoughts in some way. And now, finally, you can wear his handsome mug on a T-shirt or sweatshirt!