Political Influence : Milton Friedman And The Chicago School Of Thought Essay

Milton Friedman bases his opinion on businesses and profit maximization on the foundation of free enterprise. “The free market theory believes that business managers have only one primary responsibility, which is to maximize profit; also, the theory tells that government should not involve in economic matters, except to prevent fraud and coercion” (p. 7) Mr. Friedman argues that a corporation, unlike a person, cannot have responsibility. I disagree with this notion. I don’t think that anyone would engage in a business contract with a corporation if they thought that a corporation was not responsible to pay its bills. So therefore, a corporation can have legal, and moral responsibilities. Milton Friedman uses what, to me, is the key phrase 'as long as it stays within the rules of the game ' but does not define the phrase in terms of the legal system. My question is what about the rules of the game that are not so much as even suggested in the law? There are other rules that companies have to follow if they want to be successful; such as the obvious supply and demand rules in the marketplace. Also, as we have seen with the production of new ideas and technologies, the law follows progressions in technology and thinking. But the principle of responsibility leads the legal cases being decided. Being compliant with the law may keep them out of court, but companies know that holding themselves accountable to a higher standard will keep them in a good place with their customers,

Today I read an article by Lane Wallace in The Atlantic. She titled it “Liberal Arts and the Bottom Line.” It was a critique of Milton Friedman’s business philosophy that decreed, “the business of business is business.” The implication seems to be that anything that drives the profit down (i.e. all ethical business practices–fair wages, environmental impact, etc.) was antithetical to the definition of business. Numbers, Friedman said, were the ultimate measure of the success of the business and of individual employees as well. Wallace points out that this model has serious flaws. A singular focus on ‘the bottom line’ can have an incredibly detrimental effect on workers’ lives, the economy, and the environment. She attributes the recent economic downturn and BP oil spill in large part to this philosophy.

As Milton Friedman once said, “Freedom is a rare and delicate plant. Our minds tell us and history confirms that the great threat to freedom is the concentration of power. Government is necessary to preserve our freedom, it is an instrument through which we can exercise our freedom; yet by concentrating power and political hands, it is also a threat to freedom.” Friedman’s “Capitalism and Freedom” takes us into the mind of an economic genius and shows us his beliefs in a free market and the threat it presents to a dictatorship. Friedman, clearly a supporter of the free market, gives examples to show how a free market can aid a society in striving for success, becoming more dominant, and becoming more powerful. Though, at times he does show how a free market has disadvantages and he makes us aware as to how it can aid people in gaining individualism, knowledge, and overall improving a society. A free market is one that the price of a good or service is determined by supply and demand, in theory, rather than by government regulation. Milton’s thoughts and theory is that through a robust free market with political freedom, economic freedom will follow. Showing how economic freedom is a crucial toward the success of political freedom, Friedman’s theory of a free market and the Do Nothing Principle are major themes throughout his book.

Neoliberalism is a direct descendent of 19th century liberalism and was explicitly intended to re-create ‘laissez-faire’ conditions for markets in the 20th century (Hayter and Barnes 200). In

9. Review Klein, Chapters 2 and 3. She explains the influence of US economists, especially Milton Friedman, in designing development strategies, and of the US in installing or supporting governments that would carry them out in several countries that had been pursuing a ‘middle’ development path of ‘regulated’ capitalism in which the state played a large role in supporting social welfare and the development of local businesses. You can expect test questions on this material, including the role of the US in ‘regime change’ in these countries, the role of US-trained economists afterward, and the path that these countries were supposed to pursue.

In 2003, Andrew Jarecki released his documentary "Capturing the Friedmans", which explores a seemingly normal middle-class families struggle when the father and son are charged with sexual abuse and molestation in 1987. The Friedman's from the outside seem like a healthy family, abiding in a fairly exclusive Great Neck, Long Island community; the father Arnold is a Columbia Graduate and a school teacher, while the mother Elaine, a housewife. They have three sons David, Seth, and Jessie whom appear to be a happy, intelligent, and good-humored group of brothers.

"Home movies are about innocence--our lost fuzzy, glowing personal pasts, all horseplay, and funny hats and the promise of youth" (Cooper, 23). Andrew Jarecki's remarkable film, Capturing the Friedmans captured just what is clearly a case study of extreme family dysfunction through such home videos. At first Andrew Jarecki just wanted to do a nice little documentary about clowns. He decided to try film making and thought he would cut his teeth on something easy like birthday party clowns. He had met David Friedman a top childrens birthday party clown from Manhattan, New York. Much to his surprise David

In Haiti, once a French colony, people became inspired by the ideals of the French Revolution to press for freedom and civil rights. As they saw that people in France demanded and fought for these rights themselves, the hypocrisy of colonial exploitation became very obvious to the Haitians. In 1804, the Haitian Revolution made Haiti the first freed colony. Decolonization of places formerly controlled by Europe peaked after World War II sapped the strength of European countries. As a result, between 1945 and 1981, 105 newly freed nations joined the UN (McMichael). But even with this newfound freedom, there was still the issue of enormous economic inequality. The First World was rich, while the Third World, not yet able to begin recovering from years of exploitation, was very poor. The remedy would be development, which would take capital. So, new nations would pursue economic growth with First World assistance. This assistance would be facilitated by institutions that would be founded during the Bretton Woods Conference in

In the final four decades of the twentieth century, America in national politics and economics underwent a stupendous shift in national politics and economics. Culturally, the countercultural lifestyle and radical politics frequently embraced the offspring of the WWII generation who initiated a new cultural and ethnic pluralism that fought against social injustices. Economically, it shifted from an expansive welfare state to a neoliberal state when the government encouraged private investments. The state-centric system dominantly supervised the regulation of the U.S. economy, however, the rise of neoliberalism in the seventies and eighties enhanced the role of the private sector that widened the income gap between

By not discussing the state of our middle class at home, Friedman effectively neglects the most pressing concern for a majority of Americans. Aspects of this discussion can certainly be inferred from the reading, but the lack of explicit conversation suggests the author is more interested in representing the optimistic view of globalization. He is clearly aware of the downsides, but in many respects, allows the reader to put the pieces together for themselves.

Neo-liberalism is a political ideology that suggests that ‘human well-being can be advanced by the maximisation of entrepreneurial freedom, characterised by private property rights, individual liberty, free markets and free trade’ (Geografiskar, A 2006). In today’s modern society neo-liberalism is widespread around the globe with various stakeholders offering conflicting views. Some advocates, namely the capitalistic portion of society argue that a liberal market is

The market trading goods, and services have created a constant hum of activity including governmental agencies and services which governments provide and whether to continue those services to the public have been the focal point of fair trade economics through the perspective of Milton Friedman. Traditionally interconnected with International Policies the policies of Friedman and the Chicago school of thought has had a impacts on the quality of life and access to basic services. Through the policies of ALEC (American Legislative Exchange Council) countries across the world have experienced the backlash of extreme neoliberal policies exploiting the poorest of countries and people for the profit of white wealthy business men often collaborating with members in ALEC. Supporting this argument of extreme neoliberal policies since the 1970’s starting with the signing in of Nixon and later cabinet member Donald Rumsfeld writers such as Michael Foucault explains how such political influence can negatively affects not just American lives but everyone one and thing on the earth. Finally concluding the acceptance or allowance of such policies through legislative practices to push extreme radical policies through during the time of Shock through the perspective of Naomi Klein whose remarks of Shocks to economy was directly in response to Milton Friedman’s notion of Shocking economies after reviewing an experiment Stanley Milgram working on with obedience and power control from

Realism, liberalism, and Marxism are all different perspectives that can be used to analyze situations and aid government officials to understandings and agreements in relation to trade. Lawrence Herman 's article focusses on the potential destruction of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) caused by the disturbing and unacceptable proposals by the United States president, Donald Trump. There are many different views on Free trade but three main perspectives are the realist views, which claim that all nation-states have to rely upon their own resources and security and act in pursuit of their struggle for power and self-interest, liberal views, which approve of free trade, and lastly, through Karl Marx’s theory of Marxism.

Overtime, the international system has experience a multitude of theoretical frameworks including realism, liberalism, and idealism; furthermore, each has emerged into new schools of thought after the conclusion of the Cold War. The liberal school of thought has inherited many developments and new features since 1989. The ending of the Cold War and initiation of neoliberalism was expected to lead to a decline in conflict and result in a cooperating international system under the anarchic system. In addition, to the new features of liberalism, new features of realism (neorealism) opposing neoliberalism emerged attempting to explain the flaws in cooperation.

He was an orphan child and was raised by his grandmother. He is now a political scientist and a professor of International Political Economy at Brown University. So Blyth went from rags to riches, as the saying goes. He is best known for the book her wrote in 2012: ‘Austerity: The History of a Dangerous Idea’ as he portrays a great set of sources and consequences of the current economic affairs, and extremely detailed account of how we managed to arrive in this current situation. He also wrote the book ‘Great Transformations’. He is a Watson Institute Faculty member and director at the University of Undergraduate Programs in development studies and international relations. He is editor of Routledge Handbook of International political economy and a co-editor of the volume of Constructivist Theory and Political Economy titled ‘Constructing the International Economy’. He is currently working on a new book that questions the political and economics sustainability of liberal democracy called ‘The End of the Liberal World’. Blyth is a member of the Warwick Commission on International Financial Reform and also a member of the Editorial Board of the Review of International Political Economy. His articles have appeared in journals such as ‘The American Political Science Review’, ‘Perspectives and Politics’, ‘Comparative Politics’ and ‘World Politics’. Mark Blyth has a PHD in Political Science from Columbia