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Milton Friedman's 100th: Exploring His Wisdom for the Ages (Part III: Political Capitalism)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- August 3, 2012

[Ed. note: Milton Friedman’s views are also explored in Part I of this series (worldview) and in Part II (energy).]

“The two greatest enemies of free enterprise in the United States … have been, on the one hand, my fellow intellectuals and, on the other hand, the business corporations of this country.”

– Milton Friedman, “Which Way for Capitalism?” Reason, May 1977, p. 21.

The above quotation is striking, not so much for the ‘fellow intellectual’ part but for ‘business corporations.’ We often think of business in the same breath as ‘free enterprise,’ right?

But on closer inspection, and with the Bush/Obama bailouts, cronyism, or crony capitalism, is in focus. And Friedman’s above Reason quotation from 35 years ago is more understandable.

I have a whole website dedicated to the subject of political capitalism.…