Political Time Machine

A 1995 interview in which Sowell contends that academics and their “solutions” are largely responsible for what plagues society today.

Milton Friedman on Wage and Price Controls

The Declaration of Independence says, ''all men are created equal.'' Friedman explains that this did not mean all persons should or will have equal talents or income. Equal opportunity to better one’s self, and the right to personally benefit from the gains realized, are consistent with freedom. Equality of results requires force. Taking from some to give to others destroys freedom and removes the incentive for creating new wealth. Friedman visits India, U.S. and Britain. Discussion Participants: - Robert McKenzie, Moderator - Milton Friedman - Frances Fox Piven, British Ambassador to the United States, 1977-1979 - Thomas Sowell, Professor of Economics, UCLA

The welfare state arises from the attempt to do good with other people’s money. Such attempts always fail because: Nobody spends somebody else’s money as carefully as his own. Welfare is supply driven. Those spending the money use force to collect it and to insure those receiving it use it for ''right'' purposes. Good intentions are corrupted by bad means. Friedman visits U.S. and Britain. Discussion Participants: - Robert McKenzie, Moderator - Milton Friedman - James R. Dumpson, Chief Administrator, Human Resources Admin., NYC - Thomas Sowell, Professor of Economics, UCLA - Robert Lampman, Professor of Economics, Institute of Poverty - Helen Bohen O'Bannon, Secretary of Welfare, State of Pennsylvania.

The Great Depression has been popularly viewed as a failure of capitalism. The stock market crash, the failure of the Bank of the United States, loss of personal savings, were visible symbols supporting this belief. As Friedman explains, the real cause was the unseen failure of government policy and action. Yet this crisis resulting from government failure leads to decades of government expansion. Discussion Participants: - Robert McKenzie, Moderator - Milton Friedman - Robert Lekachman, Professor of Economics, City University, New York - Nicholas Von Hoffman, Syndicated Columnist - Peter Temin, Professor of Economics, MIT - Peter Jay, British Ambassador to the United States, 1977-1979

Government planning and detailed control of economic activity lessens productive innovation, and consumer choice. Good, better, best, are replaced by ''approved'' or ''authorized.'' Friedman shows how 'established' industries or methods, seek government protection or subsidization in their attempts to stop or limit product improvements which they don’t control. Friedman visits India, Japan and U.S. Discussion Participants: - Robert McKenzie, Moderator - Milton Friedman - Richard Deason, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers - Donald Rumsfeld, President, G.D. Searle & Company - Helen Hughes, Director of Economic Studies, World Bank - Jagdish Bhagwati, Professor of Economics, MIT.

America’s freedom and prosperity derive from the combination of the idea of human liberty in America’s Declaration of Independence with the idea of economic freedom in Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations. Friedman explains how markets and voluntary exchange organize activity and enable people to improve their lives. He also explains the price system. Friedman visits Hong Kong, U.S. and Scotland. Discussion participants - Robert McKenzie, Moderator - Michael Harrington, Democratic Socialist Organizing Committee - Milton Friedman - Russell Peterson, Governor of Delaware, 1969-1973 - Robert Galvin, Chairman, Motorola, Inc. - Congressman Barber B. Conable, Jr., Ways and Means Committee, U.S. Congress.