Milton Friedman, RIP

Milton Friedman, one of the great minds of libertarian economics has died. We have lost a national treasure.

Friedman espoused the principles of the Austrian school of laissez-faire capitalism along the lines of those espoused by Von Mises and Hayek. He, along with Hayek, revived interest in the economic world in using the money supply as a means to regulate the business cycle. He was probably instrumental in Reagan's appointment of Alan Greenspan, another monetarist, to the Federal Reserve. It has been said that Friedman was also a follower of Ayn Rand (as was Alan Greenspan), but I've never seen that definitively acknowledged.

I don't expect that Friedman ever realistically expected to see the vision of a society based completely on competetive economics become a reality. However, it is unfortunate that he passed away while most of the world was hurtling headlong in the opposite direction.

Go with God, Mr. Friedman.