Sep 252008
Here is a classic clip of legendary American economist Milton Friedman explaining “the magic of the price system” (free markets) as being responsible for the distribution of knowledge and skills necessary to make everyday goods such as the pencil.
Although I am not personally a fan of Friedman (see Klein’s Shock Doctrine), I appreciate this clip at a topical level as it helps to describe complicated processes before us.
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I would like to ask Mr. Friedman about some other costs– not even accounted for in his talk of cheap pencils– like for instance, the human cost to those who work in unsafe conditions and for “cheap”, or what of the environmental costs non-native plantations, or well I could go on about the invisible hand of the market making everything better–it seems to me 700 trillion is a pretty big hand=- no in fact “hand” doesn’t even do it justice…
Marc
700 trillion, err, I mean 700 Billion with such big numbers who can keep track?! Why give it to the banks and not the taxpayers?