From: Susan Spencer
Sent: Sunday, July 26, 2020 1:49 PM
Subject: Milton Friedman
Dear Dr. Block:
I read your very nice article about Dr. Friedman this morning that was on Lucienne. It is so seldom and a real pleasure that Friedman is noted for his excellent economics by you. I have always felt, as you apparently do, that he was a genius economist whose free market ideas always favored the people rather than politicians who tend to favor those policies that will obtain votes to increase Party power. He was one who could apply his theories for the good of our country’s citizens across a huge swath of their lives; much unlike most economists tied up with either politics or Mathematics that is generally devoid of practical applications. That seems to be explained best in Julien Benda’s ,“La trahison des clercs”(The Treason of the Intellectuals).
I am attaching a paper I authored that encommasses Dr. Friedman’s thinking with resolving the plight of our Federal unfunded liabilities; or, at least, I have attempted to do so. If you like, you may take me to task if it is too far out for the political scene that is now trending, seemingly more toward socialism than free markets. The Left seems to have abandoned our Constitutional Republic for a democracy and that always creates a tyranny where our personal freedoms and our economic freedom will be at the ‘will of the people’ and subject to their personal ideological whims rather than those granted to us by our Constitution.
As you stated in your article we would be a better country with Friedman’s theories than Biden’s Basement gibberish. However, since I am from Delaware many of us do wish he had taken to his basement along with his gibberish many years back!
I am thanking you in advance for your kindness and consideration.
Sincerely,
Richard L. Spencer, Ph.D.
LtCol Ret. USAF
Letter 2
On Sun, Jul 26, 2020 at 4:40 PM Walter Block <[email protected]> wrote:
Dear Richard:
Please send me the link to this article of mine.
Yes, Milton has made great contributions to our society, economy.
Best regards,
Walter
Letter 3
From: Susan Spencer < >
Sent: Sunday, July 26, 2020 7:06 PM
To: Walter Block <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: Milton Friedman
Here it is. https://www.ocregister.com/2020/07/25/joe-biden-swings-and-misses-in-swipe-at-milton-friedman/
Letter 4
Dear Richard:
Thanks.
The best thing ever written on Milton Friedman is this:
Rothbard, Murray N. 2002. “Milton Friedman Unraveled.”
Journal of Libertarian Studies, Vol. 16, No. 4, Fall, pp.
37-54; http://www.mises.org/journals/jls/16_4/16_4_3.pdf
Here are some of my own attempts in this regard:
As I mentioned at the end of the essay, I do have some disagreements with him (if you only read one of these, read the last one):
Block, 1999, 2003, 2010, 2011, 2013; Block and Barnett, 2012-2013; Friedman and Block, 2006;
Block, Walter E. 2013. “Was Milton Friedman a socialist” Management Education Science Technology Journal (MEST Journal); Vol. 1, No. 1, pp. 11- 26; http://mest.meste.org/MEST_1_2013/_02.pdf;
http://mest.meste.org/MEST_1_2013/Sadrzaj_eng.html
Block, Walter E. 1999. “The Gold Standard: A Critique of Friedman, from the free enterprise perspective, Greenspan,” Managerial Finance, Vol. 25, No. 5, pp. 15-33; http://giorgio.emeraldinsight.com/Insight/viewContainer.do?containerType=Issue&containerId=13529; http://www.mises.org/etexts/goldcritique.pdf
Block, Walter E. 2003. “Private property rights, economic freedom, and Professor Coase: A Critique of Friedman, McCloskey, Medema and Zorn,” Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy, Vol. 26, No. 3, Summer, pp. 923-951; http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_go2782/is_3_26/ai_n6640908/?tag=content
Block, Walter E. 2010. “Milton Friedman on Intolerance: A Critique.” Libertarian Papers; Vol. 2, No. 41;
http://libertarianpapers.org/2010/41-block-milton-friedman-on-intolerance-a-critique/; http://mises.org/daily/6208/Friedman-on-Intolerance-A-Critique
Block, Walter E. 2011. “How Not To Defend the Market: A critique of Easton, Miron, Bovard, Friedman and Boudreaux .” Journal of Libertarian Studies; Vol. 22, pp. 581–592; http://mises.org/journals/jls/22_1/22_1_28.pdf
Block, Walter E. and William Barnett II. 2012-2013. “Milton Friedman and the financial crisis,” American Review of Political Economy, Vol. 10, No. 1/2, June, 2012 – June 2013; pp. 2-17; http://www.ARPEJournal.com; http://arpejournal.com./ARPEvolume10number1-2/Block.pdf; arpejournal.com
Friedman, Milton and Walter E. Block. 2006. “Fanatical, Not Reasonable: A Short Correspondence Between Walter E. Block and Milton Friedman (on Friedrich Hayek’s Road to Serfdom).” Journal of Libertarian Studies, Vol. 20, No. 3, Summer, pp. 61-80; http://www.mises.org/journals/jls/20_3/20_3_4.pdf; https://mises.org/system/tdf/20_3_4.pdf?file=1&type=document
Best regards,
Walter
2:23 am on October 8, 2020
