What is Greed? - Awesome Video
Submitted by duff on Thu, 03/05/2009 - 10:34
Milton Friedman is awesome. He quietly smacks down Donahue in this video.
Individual liberty and private property is the only way to wealth. Government is greed.
If someone works hard, a free system should reward that person. There should never be a one-to-one coorespondence between a wealthy person and greed. Government that takes what does not belong to them are "the greedy."
Note: Friedman is not a Keynesian, but a monetarist, so he still does not support the supply-side theory of austrian economics. However, this video is a great defense of Capitalism.
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Outstanding
Thread.
I also appreciate Phil Donahue here. On this particular occasion he set these queries up well and stayed out of the way. He also appeared genuinely captivated by Friedman's response.
I love it!
Thanks.
Awesome
I translated it yesterday into German.
A very important statement for the general understanding about Capitalism and free market.
http://pott-for-ron-paul.blogspot.com/
ronpauled since Sept.07
"Cuse me but ...
"The love of money is the root of ALL EVIL." ... God
Friedman's philosophy is half baked. And the Austrian School's philosophy isn't quite done either.
I've said it before and I'll say it again: communism and capitalism are flip sides of the same coin. They run on a materialistic (godless) foundation, out of which you get selfish, greedy, money grubbing people. Not quite everyone is that way, but they're considered the losers. The world, in general, runs on greed.
Friedman is not being honest. He knew darn well what the REAL agenda was, but let's let Carroll Quigley's quote suffice here ...
"The powers of financial capitalism had another far-reaching aim, nothing less than to create a world system of financial control in private hands able to dominate the political system of each country and the economy of the world as a whole. This system was to be controlled in a feudalist fashion by the central banks of the world acting in concert, by secret agreements arrived at in frequent private meetings and conferences.. " That's capitalism folks!
Suggest we stop worshiping at the altar of capitalism and start worshiping God instead. He has a law against coveting. If we practiced the 10 Commandments, we wouldn't be in this pickle.
That's NOT capitalism.
What you complain about is not capitalism, which specifies no role at all for government other than the protection of property and the enforcement of contracts (and those are only implicit, not explicit), but a rapacious kind of system that uses government to exploit the many on behalf of a few with economic and political clout.
Such systems have been called by various names, including "mercantilism," "corporatism," and "fascism."
Just because the corporatists and fascists have claimed to be only capitalists, do you think that MAKES them capitalists?
Much the same situation exists now with liberalism. It has become a dirty word for many because they assume the socialists and communists who hide under the label "liberal" really ARE just liberals. But classical liberalism (basically libertarianism) respected private property, economic liberty, and individual responsibility.
It's high time people learned to distinguish bastardized labels from accurate ones.
Oh Yes It Is!
Because of fallen human nature (original sin), capitalism will always come to the same lousy end we're at now. If you enshrine a system of greed (a capital sin), what's going to happen is that the most immoral and cunning of the greedy among us will devise a plan to try to get it all. (Just like what's happening NOW).
It just so happens that we all tend to specialize in certain types of sin and, the more we commit them, the more a sin becomes an addiction for us. So greedy people will never be satisfied with whatever they possess ... they always need more.
Of course, you could have a country of bona fide saints in a capitalistic system and that might work well.... for a while. However, it wouldn't be long before they started losing their faith due to materialistic trappings.
CAPITALISM DOESN'T WORK. IT CAN'T!
Capitalism defined:
Capitalism = private property + voluntary cooperation
Capitalism does not involve the initiation of force or fraud. If force or fraud is present, this is not capitalism, it is something else.
“It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker, that we can expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own interest” ~ Adam Smith
The above message brought to you
through a computer produced by someone who wanted to get rich.
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9/11 was blowback! 9/11 was blowback! 9/11 was blowback! Not an inside job!
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The Fed is not a private bank. PRIVATIZE THE FED!!!
"The Federal Reserve Banks should simply be regarded as governmental agencies." -Murray Rothbard
"I now call the Federal Reserve the fourth branch of government." -Ron Paul
WHAT?
thats the last straw...
Time to smash my computer!!!
fortune favors the bold
Capitalism is simply people
Capitalism is simply people who believe in property rights cooperating and trading with each other. If you grow some vegetables in your backyard and give them to your neighbor in exchange for some shoes he worked hard making....where's the greed here? Who's the loser here? How is this ungodly?
Well Said KVC
I was going to chime in but I see you were on point so I'll find another "foe" to slay.
*gallops off*
Octobox
*&^ Constitution --- Constitutional Rationality
God wants me to be
God wants me to be successful.
Duff:
No! God wants us to be faithful. Jesus did not look very successful as He hung from a cross.
Greed may make people successful, but it won't get them to heaven. And "What does it profit a man if he gain the whole world and suffer the loss of his soul?"
Prudence is a good thing, and there is nothing wrong with being successful so long as it's done honestly, with integrety, and with a good smattering of compassion for those you come in contact with.
The way people invest these days, it's mostly a crap shoot ... not something that helps to sustain a society. Much of it is just zero sum gambling ... someone wins what someone else loses. There is no virtue in that sort of "investing" though it has made many people wealthy and probably sent a fair number of them to hell.
At this point, I've read enough economics to do me till I die. All are flawed because they never take the souls of men into consideration.
I wonder if God is happy
I wonder if God is happy that I use my money to support a child in Bangladesh, give thousands to my church and support Life and Liberty causes?
Don't preach to me. The people who go around clanging cymbals are the biggest hypocrits. I take care of my fellow man, and if big government christians like you would get out of my way, I could send my kids to college and sponsor three other kids to college and probably a hundred people in bangladesh, so get out of my way.....please.
God bless.
Do the kids a favor
Don't send any of them to college. In all likelihood, it would destroy them.
Obviously my statements are being misunderstood. I am no "big government Christian. " I am a proponent of subsidiarity, which is about making most government local.
It just dawned on me that you're dealing with a false dichotomy. Just because I think capitalism is a raw deal for most of humanity, you jump to the conclusion that I must therefore prefer socialism. I assure you, I do not. Socialism is more evil than capitalism, but capitalism is also evil.
There are other alternatives (Distributism and subsidiarity) which most people on this website are clueless about. It's altogether probable that they are suffering from truncated public school educations (not their fault), so I apologize for not making my position clearer. I now see how easily I can be misunderstood. Glad we had this chat.
EXCELLENT! You want to know what REAL greed is?
Greed is not having things, being successful, owning the fruits of your labor, or being rich.
Greed is coveting that which you DON'T have. Greed is coveting the wealth and success of your neighbor and desiring that which you haven't earned honestly.
Greed is seeking to gain and control what is not yours. Greed is coveting the lives of others, wanting to rule them, make decisions for them, control them. All that when you yourself already have one life? For those who wish to have more than one life, that is the ultimate greed.
Thus, those who claim to be sympathetic to the poor, etc. and seek to "help" them by controlling the lives and production of others/those of ability, are the greediest people. These include socialists, communists, fascists, etc. Anyone who seeks to tell another person what to do with their life for another's benefit.
He also made a good point about the fact that free markets have resulted in easier lives/better production/efficiency, and that individuals, NOT government were responsible for those.
Common sense isn't common.
Common sense isn't common.
Does Dr. Paul and the Austrian School support Milton Friedman?
No.
He came from the "Chicago school" of economic thought.
He had some good ideas, but on the whole, Austrian economics has major differences with the Chicago school.
This clip was good though, and shows that however far off Friedman was from correct thought, Donahue and this country are INFINETLY further from correct and MORAL economic thinking.
Economics IS morals.
We are socialists now--plain and simple.
So down the IMMORAL economic path we go.
"We have allowed our nation to be over-taxed, over-regulated, and overrun by bureaucrats. The founders would be ashamed of us for what we are putting up with."
-Ron Paul
WRONG. Dr. Paul DOES support Milton Friedman.
Upon Friedman's death, Dr. Paul said: "The death of economist Milton Friedman last week at the age of 94 marks a great loss for advocates of freedom everywhere. He was perhaps the most successful free-market economist of the 20th century, in terms of his real-world impact on politics and policy. Many modern politicians, including Ronald Reagan, considered him a major influence in their careers. Milton Friedman was a strong advocate of economic liberty who opposed government intervention in both the purely economic and broader social spheres of our society. He believed not only in laissez-faire capitalism, but also the larger cause of individual liberty in the political sense... The nation would be well-served if Congress spent more time reading the works of Milton Friedman, and less time worrying about petty party spoils." http://www.ronpaullibrary.org/document.php?id=487
Not all Austrians think they holier than thou.
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9/11 was blowback! 9/11 was blowback! 9/11 was blowback! Not an inside job!
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The Fed is not a private bank. PRIVATIZE THE FED!!!
"The Federal Reserve Banks should simply be regarded as governmental agencies." -Murray Rothbard
"I now call the Federal Reserve the fourth branch of government." -Ron Paul
friedman
http://www.lewrockwell.com/rothbard/rothbard43.html
Bravo!
Notice also how polite and professional the host. I know Donahue has been a bomb thrower as well at times. But at least in this instant when faced with an absolute truth he was wise enough to hear it out instead of playing the childish games of today's supposed "news" anchors.
"Blaming our economic
"Blaming our economic problems on greed is like blaming gravity for an airplane crash" - Thomas Woods, (Meltdown.)
Right..
There is not any more greed in the world today than there was in the past. Human nature hasn't changed.
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9/11 was blowback! 9/11 was blowback! 9/11 was blowback! Not an inside job!
-------
The Fed is not a private bank. PRIVATIZE THE FED!!!
"The Federal Reserve Banks should simply be regarded as governmental agencies." -Murray Rothbard
"I now call the Federal Reserve the fourth branch of government." -Ron Paul
Exactly. Greed is a
Exactly. Greed is a constant, just like gravity is a constant.
And the moon is made of
And the moon is made of green cheese!
Envy is the true destroyer of prosperity
I'm getting sick of leftists blaming every problem of the world on greed. The real problem through the ages always has been envy. Even though the poorest person in a free market system is wealthier than the richest in a socialist system, they still have envy because someone else is richer than them, so they start demanding socialism and wealth redistribution to equalize everything. We as humans need to keep our envy in check and let our greed (or self interest if you prefer) dominate more. And self interest always brings about cooperation in the market place because of the voluntary buy-sell mechanisms involved.
Register as Republican and Vote for Ron Paul
I've got my "issues" with Friedman
but this is good. I love how gently smacks Donahue around by questioning the very assumptions inherent in Donahue's questions. Loved it.
What are your issues with Friedman?
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9/11 was blowback! 9/11 was blowback! 9/11 was blowback! Not an inside job!
-------
The Fed is not a private bank. PRIVATIZE THE FED!!!
"The Federal Reserve Banks should simply be regarded as governmental agencies." -Murray Rothbard
"I now call the Federal Reserve the fourth branch of government." -Ron Paul
issues
for starters
http://www.lewrockwell.com/rothbard/rothbard43.html
That was written in 1971!
Friedman's views changed over time!
For example, look at my message below, where I showed that Friedman supports the abolition of the Fed, and supports a true private gold standard. He thought that a free market in money would have a better outcome than government and Fed intervention. Just because he wrote on what the Fed should do IT IT EXISTS, it doesn't mean he supports the existence of the Fed.
I also disagree with the writer's premise. He appears to think there's something wrong with writing papers showing how one government action is preferrable over another. I see nothing wrong with someone writings papers on how one action by government can produce a better than another action. Friedman was a scientist, not a moralist, and that's his great value.
-------
9/11 was blowback! 9/11 was blowback! 9/11 was blowback! Not an inside job!
-------
The Fed is not a private bank. PRIVATIZE THE FED!!!
"The Federal Reserve Banks should simply be regarded as governmental agencies." -Murray Rothbard
"I now call the Federal Reserve the fourth branch of government." -Ron Paul