[Milton Friedman dies at 94]

No rest not even from the University of Chicago

However, more than 100 faculty members have signed a petition objecting to the Milton Friedman Institute. The group of dissenting professors calls itself the Committee for Open Research on Economy and Society (CORES). CORES will make its case against the MFI at a faculty senate, a rarely held assembly of the entire faculty to be held this fall.

Yali Amit, a professor in the Departments of Statistics and Computer Science and one of the petition’s signers, cites several broad objections to the proposed institute. The most basic complaint involves the MFI’s name. According to Amit, Friedman, the Nobel laureate and accomplished technical economist, “cannot be disentangled from Milton Friedman, the right-wing ideologue.”

[Milton Friedman dies at 94]

This might have to move into politics eventually.

Not surprisingly (and perhaps unfortunately), they emphasize his politics over his scholarly contributions to economics.

Not many of the giants of economics left -- Paul Samuelson, Robert Solow, Ken Arrow, maybe a few others.

link

SAN FRANCISCO - Milton Friedman, the Nobel Prize-winning economist who advocated an unfettered free market and had the ear of Presidents Nixon, Ford and Reagan, died Thursday. He was 94.

In more than a dozen books and in his column in Newsweek magazine, Friedman championed individual freedom in economics and politics.

His theory of monetarism, adopted in part by the Nixon, Ford and Reagan administrations, opposed the traditional Keynesian economics that had dominated U.S. policy since the New Deal. He was a member of Reagan's Economic Policy Advisory Board.

His theories won him a Nobel Prize in economics in 1976.

That's an odd obit to Friedman. The first thing that jumps out is how overtly political Friedman really was. I wonder why the author believes we should ignore his primary function as a political ideologue. The second surprise is the statement about Ford and Nixon who more or less rejected monetarism unlike Reagan.

I remember reading one of his newly released books in the early 80s? after he won the Nobel Prize. One chapter was a scathing report on how labor unions artificially drove up prices and violated free market principles. So what was his supporting example that gave evidence and reasoning for Friedman to draw such conclusions? Why it was the American Medical Association of course. (I know I know, that's laughable, but it's true! And he won a Nobel Prize. Go figure.)

In the 80s and 90s, Friedman was able to witness the failure of his theories as deficits rose to record levels while slashing the wealthy income tax levels some 20%. What did we do to recover some of this loss in revenue that was never supposed to occur according to Friedman. Well, we reinstated a capital gains tax on Wall Street, and payroll taxes on the working man went to an all time high. We spent the greater part of the 90s undoing this fiasco.

We entered a new era of Friedman economics the last 8 years that again brought us into extraordinary deficits and landed the world on the brink of its worst calamity and depression in history. One has to imagine that Friedman will not rest peacefully for some time. His soul will stir with trepidation I am sure. 'Who will saaave his soul?'

[George Crumb]

My favorite George Crumb is his seminal string quartet Black Angel for electric violins. my favorite 20th century composition. The music was used in the 70s hit movie The Exorcist.

[Ellington Suites]

I love the Latin American Suite. It's my favorite Ellington recording.