Professor Milton Friedman- 'Myths That Conceal Reality (1978)'

Source:Basic Economics- Economics Professor Milton Friedman giving a lecture in 1978.

"Milton Friedman - Myths That Conceal Reality (Lecture) Lies of Socialism, Social Justice and Equity."

Source:Basic Economics

I'm going to give you what I think of Professor Friedman's so-called myths.

Robber Baron- Pre-Progressive Era a movement that Progressive Republican Theodore Roosevelt and other Progressives build during the very early part of the 20th Century, we did have the closest thing to a Libertarian Society that we'll probably ever get too, at least economically. There's was plenty of big government to go around when it came to social issues and government's relation to non-Anglo-Saxon-Protestant men in America. But big business essentially had the free will to do practically anything that they wanted to, including buying politicians and doing it legally.

Great Depression- I mostly agree with Professor Friedman about the Great Depression. The FDR New Deal didn't get America out of the Great Depression. It did help and help create jobs and helped Americans deal with the pain of the. But it's World War II and post-World War II America that got American economy back to full-strength.

Safety Net- I'm in favor of a public safety net and having some type of public social insurance system for people who truly need it. But we don't need the Federal Government doing this. These programs should be run by the states and localities, including Unemployment Insurance, Medicaid, Medicare, and Social Security. And we need to empower private charities to be doing more to help Americans in real need. 

Free Lunch- Professor Friedman is damn right about now free lunch. Everything that we do and everything that we get in life comes with some cost. Generally financial, but living in poverty is the only way that people can even be eligible for public safety net programs or even private charity. 

Robinhood- the Robinhood theory of economics assumes that there's only so much money to go around in any economy. And that it's somehow unfair for people to be wealthy, while others have to live in poverty. Therefor you have to rob Joe and Mary, to take care of John and Susan, (or whoever the people involved are) instead of just expanding the economic pot with further economic and job growth, as well as better education and more economic development.