Many of you reading this blog won’t even know who Milton Friedman was.
Mr. Friedman was an influential economist, a leader of the “Chicago School” of economics. He championed Free Market Economics and deregulation, and his theories and teachings helped shape American Economics and Economic policy in the late 20th Century. He even won a Nobel Prize in 1976.
However, as with any Economist, he was adored in some corners and chastised in others. He had his successes and his utter failures whilst advising many Presidents.
Many saw Friedman as a political right-leaner. However, while he served as an advisor to numerous Republican Presidents, his views were much more Libertarian. He served on a panel that helped abolish the draft in the 1970s. He questioned the U.S.’s involvement in the first Gulf War, and vehemently opposed our current Iraq war.
I first met Milton Friedman in a seminar almost 20 years ago when I was still in my University years. I found him articulate, compelling, gracious, and very funny. After the seminar, I approached him, shook his hand, and asked him to sign a dollar bill for me.
“Isn’t this defacement of currency?” he asked me, his dry wit emerging.
“Don’t worry…..this dollar will never return into circulation again”, I answered.
Milton Friedman shaped my views on Economics, Fiscal Policy, and Politics for years to come.
Years later, my home was burglarized, and much of my cash and valuables were stolen. After surveying my missing belongings, I noticed that my “Friedman Dollar”, which had been encased in a protective plastic sleeve, was missing. Out of everything that was stolen, the loss of that Dollar hurt me the most.
I just read that Milton Friedman passed away today in San Francisco at the age of 94.
He might have been a small man in stature, but he was a giant in his field, and I will greatly miss him.