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R.I.P Milton Friedman

Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
July 31, 1912 - November 16, 2006

A true genius and for providing the influence for many of Thatcher and Reagan's achievements he will be forever held in high regard.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    rip
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    Teh_GerbilTeh_Gerbil Posts: 13,332 Born on Earth, Raised by The Mix
    R.I.P

    Don't like the guy, but may he rest in peace, despite the millions he caused to not live in peace. Respect the Dead and all.

    He did have some damned good ideas, shame they were never followed through though - decriminilazing drugs and prostitution, for instance. Why didn't he push them more? And not be a cunt?
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    No tears shed here.

    His only redeeming features were his fight to abolish the draft and his position on drugs.

    But whether he intended it or not his ideals made hundreds of millions of people around the world the poorer.

    Anyone who Margaret Thatcher sees as an inspiration has to be bad news anyway.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Good riddance to the poisonous old shit.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Aladdin wrote:
    His only redeeming features were his fight to abolish the draft and his position on drugs.

    Have you overlooked his congestion charge idea ? I thought you had a love for that.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    If it was really him to came up with that, add that to the (regrettably short) list of redeeming features.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Regrettably,for me, was that while advocating personal freedom he was, in his words,"expediently" a supporter of the State.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Blagsta wrote:
    Good riddance to the poisonous old shit.

    You really are a disgusting excuse for a human being.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Oi! That's one of my lines! Get yer own insults.

    Friedman, Pinochet and Chile. 'nuff said. The man was a cunt, I'm glad he's dead.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    This was a man who supported a dictator who used dogs to rape women political prisoners. The fact that he's such a hero to you dis, speaks volumes. We all know your views on Pinochet too.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Blagsta wrote:
    This was a man who supported a dictator who used dogs to rape women political prisoners.

    Indeed.

    Isn`t "the State" wonderful ? :rolleyes:
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Blagsta wrote:
    This was a man who supported a dictator who used dogs to rape women political prisoners. The fact that he's such a hero to you dis, speaks volumes. We all know your views on Pinochet too.

    Pinochet was an unpleasant dictator. Although a Chilean Castro would have unleashed even more violence, indeed partly due to his record as Great Revolutionary Leader Castro has far more blood on his hands than Pinochet. (Which makes it seem rather bizarre that the left will cosy up to Castro yet condemn people like Friedman for working with Pinochet. And Pinochet after all allowed a return to civilian rule and democratic elections when things didn't go his way politically - meanwhile Castro is still clinging on for power and there is no sign that free and fair elections will ever occur in Cuba). That said nobody can defend the wrongdoings that occurred during the Pinochet years.

    As for Friedman I believe he quite clearly disagreed with Pinochet's actions and condemned them. It would seem that he also gave the same support and advice to economists in other countries including China. Or did you not object to Friedman working with left wing regimes with human rights abuses?

    In terms of the economic growth that has made Chile the relatively prosperous, peaceful and democratic country it is today Pinochet and Friedman actually deserve a lot of the credit.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    In terms of the economic growth that has made Chile the relatively prosperous, peaceful and democratic country it is today Pinochet and Friedman actually deserve a lot of the credit.
    lollercoaster0.gif


    Never mind that Chile was a democratic country before the fascist mass murdering cunt overthrew its democratically elected government and subjected it to years of indescribable oppression and abuses eh?

    :rolleyes:
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Pinochet was an unpleasant dictator. Although a Chilean Castro would have unleashed even more violence, indeed partly due to his record as Great Revolutionary Leader Castro has far more blood on his hands than Pinochet. (Which makes it seem rather bizarre that the left will cosy up to Castro yet condemn people like Friedman for working with Pinochet. And Pinochet after all allowed a return to civilian rule and democratic elections when things didn't go his way politically - meanwhile Castro is still clinging on for power and there is no sign that free and fair elections will ever occur in Cuba). That said nobody can defend the wrongdoings that occurred during the Pinochet years.

    As for Friedman I believe he quite clearly disagreed with Pinochet's actions and condemned them. It would seem that he also gave the same support and advice to economists in other countries including China. Or did you not object to Friedman working with left wing regimes with human rights abuses?

    In terms of the economic growth that has made Chile the relatively prosperous, peaceful and democratic country it is today Pinochet and Friedman actually deserve a lot of the credit.

    You're living in a fucking dream world.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    As for Friedman I believe he quite clearly disagreed with Pinochet's actions and condemned them.

    Oh dear.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    this thread was predictable

    congrats all
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Yep.

    Wait until Thatcher pegs it... :D
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Oh dis, if you could quote me where I give my support to Castro or to China, please do.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Aladdin wrote:
    Yep.

    Wait until Thatcher pegs it... :D

    Tbh I'd like to respond to sick remarks of celebrating Friedman's death or Thatcher's with a remark along the lines of planning to open a bottle myself when Fidel Castro, Dennis Skinner and Arthur Scargill die...But to celebrate the death of someone because of their vile views (or in Castro's case his murderous and bloody actions) just seems quite morbid. (Must point out however that Lady Thatcher despite being quite frail is very much alive and she remains active with regard to atlantacist and eurosceptic causes within the Conservative party).
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    they clearly can't help themselves.like i said, predictable...
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I'll certainly shed no tears when Castro dies. However, to put Scargill or Skinner into the same category as Casto just shows how illogical and petty your views actually are. Scargill or Skinner have not been responsible for torture and murder. Friedman actively suported it. Your hero worship of Friedman thus puts you on fairly shaky moral territory.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    minimi38 wrote:
    they clearly can't help themselves.like i said, predictable...

    Oh look, minimi being snidey from the sidelines without engaging in anything.

    What was that about predictable? :rolleyes:
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I'd much rather celebrate the death of someone who was despicable than trying to defend their acts.

    Some things are simply indefensible.

    Such as the disgusting atrocities Pinochet perpetrated.

    And yet, you and others are queuing up to give us lots of 'buts' and 'ifs' and trying to pretend that just because the man was alledged to have improved the economy his crimes take a secondary role.

    Next time we discuss the Third Reich perhaps we should celebrate the improvements good old Adolph brought to the German economy and manufacturing industry, and dismiss everything else he did as a footnote in history.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Its not as if Pinochet's reforms were actually any good for the average bod in Chile anyway. Yet again Dis's support for the rich to get richer off the backs of the poor, led by rape and murder, shows what a lovely caring person Dis really is.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    So friedman advised pinochet on economic policy and mentored the "chicago boys". yep, definatly an accessory to facism.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Blagsta wrote:
    I'll certainly shed no tears when Castro dies.

    Good to hear. Shame that is not the case for the likes of Ken Livingstone, George Galloway and their followers.
    Blagsta wrote:
    Scargill or Skinner have not been responsible for torture and murder.

    True, although Scargill was no doubt [directly or indirectly] responsible for some very nasty intimidation. Both Skinner and Scargill do hold absolutely vile views however.
    Blagsta wrote:
    Friedman actively suported it. Your hero worship of Friedman thus puts you on fairly shaky moral territory.

    I admire Friedman because he was a gifted intellect and because of his academic work. I also think his legacy and influence on world leaders where relevant was generally positive. I reject the spurious accusation that Friedman 'actively supported' torture although would be interested to see what source(s) you base such a view on.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Blagsta wrote:
    Its not as if Pinochet's reforms were actually any good for the average bod in Chile anyway. Yet again Dis's support for the rich to get richer off the backs of the poor, led by rape and murder, shows what a lovely caring person Dis really is.
    Yes quite. He would also probably tell you Chile was a commie hellhole before 'saviour' Pinochet came to the rescue.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Good to hear. Shame that is not the case for the likes of Ken Livingstone, George Galloway and their followers.

    Have I ever expressed support for these people?
    True, although Scargill was no doubt [directly or indirectly] responsible for some very nasty intimidation.

    Oh dis, you're one sidedness is laughably naive.
    Both Skinner and Scargill do hold absolutely vile views however.

    From an admirer of Thatcher and Friedman, this is rather rich.
    I admire Friedman because he was a gifted intellect and because of his academic work. I also think his legacy and influence on world leaders where relevant was generally positive. I reject the spurious accusation that Friedman 'actively supported' torture although would be interested to see what source(s) you base such a view on.
    While he was in Chile Friedman gave a speech titled "The Fragility of Freedom" where he described the "role in the destruction of a free society that was played by the emergence of the welfare state." Chile's present difficulties, he argued, "were due almost entirely to the forty-year trend toward collectivism, socialism and the welfare state . . . a course that would lead to coercion rather than freedom." The Pinochet regime, he argued, represented a turning point in a protracted campaign, a tearing off of democracy's false husks to reach true freedom's inner core. "The problem is not of recent origin," Friedman wrote in a follow-up letter to Pinochet, but "arises from trends toward socialism that started forty years ago, and reached their logical * and terrible *climax in the Allende regime." He praised the general for putting Chile back on the "right track" with the "many measures you have already taken to reverse this trend."

    http://www.counterpunch.org/grandin11172006.html
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Counterpunch is hardly a balanced source, it's quite clearly driven by its ideological agenda...

    Interesting interview with Friedman. Friedman's wikipedia page citing his memoirs says that Friedman 'expressed a strong disapproval of local political situation' in Chile.

    Anyway Friedman believed freer markets led to freer people, Chile lacked free markets - this led to dictatorship, and the then freer economic policies he influenced led to subsequent political freedoms.
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