Milton Freidman – Capitalism and Freedom – book review

In a nutshell (208 pages), this is one of Milton Freidman’s most important works and covers almost every imaginable point of contact between a citizen and their government, at least in the West. Freidman systematically goes through the topics he finds most important and not only criticizes what he sees as bad behaviour in hindsight, but forecasts how some measures will turn out, and offers his solutions to problems that will resonate today.

What I got out of it

I was shocked to find that I liked a lot of what he had to say. Depending on where you get your news Freidman can easily come off as an almost inhumane capitalist who only cares about unrestricted free markets for corporations. This is mostly true, but he also disdains monopolies and anything that means that the individual doesn’t get a fair chance at living their lives honestly and peacefully. He goes after racists and bigots as well, long before it was fashionable and easy, to illustrate that being bigoted is bad for business and the community.

What was difficult

The book is old, and so with that, there are certain things that Freidman proposes that I think most people would recognize don’t work. If you can’t separate the man from the idea or the wheat from the chaff, then this book will be very difficult to get through.

Recommendation

This is a great book to have read, a good book to read. Read the book for the historical context of some of the most important issues of today, just remember it was written a long time ago and is one man's ideas, not a book of universal laws.