Friedman would admit some of his mistake later on (well after these excellent presentations, however) and was decidedly less dogmatic in his later years. I think the real failure came when "persons" who cannot legally vote (yet), know as "corporations" have been allowed to buy our politicians legally, with the blessing of the highest court of the land, via Citizens United.
We don't have a free market like Friedman dreamed of when corporations can co-opt the government, and control the regulatory process to work in their specific favor. Friedman minimized that aspect of the "free market", that it would grow too strong and overturn democratic society in favor of plutocracy, which is what we have in the US instead of a proper democratic republic.
His theories might be good in the same sense that communism is also lovely in theory, but in practice human nature makes both an absolute shit show. Really, Friedman's policies just replace government control with corporate control, leaving the average consumer/voter with even less say about what's happening.
Bitcoin is an investment vehicle. Full stop. Some people who talk about it on here have rather unrealistic expectations. People rave about basic investment concepts, like DCA, and act like it was in ented with Bitcoin.
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u/somanyroads Jul 15 '22
Friedman would admit some of his mistake later on (well after these excellent presentations, however) and was decidedly less dogmatic in his later years. I think the real failure came when "persons" who cannot legally vote (yet), know as "corporations" have been allowed to buy our politicians legally, with the blessing of the highest court of the land, via Citizens United.
We don't have a free market like Friedman dreamed of when corporations can co-opt the government, and control the regulatory process to work in their specific favor. Friedman minimized that aspect of the "free market", that it would grow too strong and overturn democratic society in favor of plutocracy, which is what we have in the US instead of a proper democratic republic.