Common Sense Capitalism: 'Professor Milton Friedman- Versus a Socialist (1979)'

 

Source:Common Sense Capitalism- Professor Milton Friedman, debating a Socialist as part of his Free To Choose series, back in 1979-80.

"Milton Friedman Versus A Socialist"

America has never had a pure capitalist economy meaning a totally free market. The Federal Government has always been involved in our economy one way or the other whether its been subsidizing private enterprise like agriculture and other areas and even the Postal Service. And then of course we became less of a capitalist economy in the 1930s with the FDR New Deal and the creation of the American public safety net that has only expanded ever since with the highway system under President Eisenhower in the 1950s and then with the LBJ Great Society in the 1960s. 

We've never had a purely free market economy that Libertarians would like to see and of course we've never seen a Marxist-Socialist economy that Marxists would like to see in America, where the State owns the means and production of society, like with Cuba for example. Actually, no large developed nation in the world has a Marxist-Socialist economy. All of these developed nations including America, have a mix economy of capitalism and socialism. With a private sector and a public sector, with a lot of countries having larger public sectors than private sectors and with America where the private sector is large than the public sector. 

Any government program or agency is a form of socialism, not just Social Security and Medicare but anything that government runs is a form of socialism. Socialism in a lot of ways is a public service provided by government. America has always had a mix economic system when its worked well, that gives people a lot of economic freedom. But regulates how people interact with each other to prevent unfair abuses in the system. And that has a safety net that catches people who fall in the system but helps them back up to become self-sufficient. 

As much as Libertarians would like to see America have less government involvement in the economy, and as much as Democratic Socialists would like to see more government involvement in the economy like in Europe, we've never had either type of system of a totally free market or more big government involvement in the economy. 

When the American economy has worked well, we've had American capitalism. A system of vast economic freedom, low taxes, thats well-regulated. A quality public education system and a safety net that catches people who fall and helps them back up. We've never had a pure capitalist economy or a pure Socialist economy, because neither system is good enough to meet the needs of the people on its own.