“Many people want the government to protect the consumer. A much more urgent problem is to protect the consumer from the government.”
Government
“Many people want the government to protect the consumer. A much more urgent problem is to protect the consumer from the government.”
GovernmentAll Quotes by Milton Friedman
“History suggests that capitalism is a necessary condition for political freedom. Clearly it is not a sufficient condition.”
Freedom“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 greed? You think China doesn't run on greed? What is greed?”
Society“Concentrated power is not rendered harmless by the good intentions of those who create it.”
Good“If you put the federal government in charge of the Sahara Desert, in 5 years there'd be a shortage of sand.”
Government“So that the record of history is absolutely crystal clear. That there is no alternative way, so far discovered, of improving the lot of the ordinary people that can hold a candle to the productive activities that are unleashed by a free enterprise system.”
Government“The Great Depression, like most other periods of severe unemployment, was produced by government mismanagement rather than by any inherent instability of the private economy.”
Government“Universities exist to transmit knowledge and understanding of ideas and values to students not to provide entertainment for spectators or employment for athletes.”
Knowledge“Only government can take perfectly good paper, cover it with perfectly good ink and make the combination worthless.”
Good“We have a system that increasingly taxes work and subsidizes nonwork.”
Society“Most of the energy of political work is devoted to correcting the effects of mismanagement of government.”
Government“The only way that has ever been discovered to have a lot of people cooperate together voluntarily is through the free market. And that's why it's so essential to preserving individual freedom.”
Freedom“Hell hath no fury like a bureaucrat scorned.”
Politics“The power to do good is also the power to do harm.”
Power“Underlying most arguments against the free market is a lack of belief in freedom itself.”
Freedom“The most important ways in which I think the Internet will affect the big issue is that it will make it more difficult for government to collect taxes.”
Government“The only relevant test of the validity of a hypothesis is comparison of prediction with experience.”
Experience“A major source of objection to a free economy is precisely that group thinks they ought to want. Underlying most arguments against the free market is a lack of belief in freedom itself.”
Freedom“Inflation is taxation without legislation.”
Finance“Governments never learn. Only people learn.”
Government