Friday, November 17, 2006

Milton Friedman.....RIP

OpinionJournal - Federation

I know most of you slept through economics classes in high school and college, how do I know? I usually woke up before everyone else in the class (usually because the guy next to me was snoring). How the teacher didn't notice the class was asleep I'll never know.

Well, eventually I had to learn this dismal science called "economics" and now Supply-Demand curves are burned into my brain, everything I look at I see through a prism of economics. This doesn't mean I understand economics, I think few do.

There are few economists that I remember reading about, mainly because most didn't make much sense. There are three however that stand out in history, Adam Smith, Milton Friedman, and Art Laffer. Milton Friedman passed away yesterday and this world will miss him.

To quote the Wall Street Journal:

"In 1976 Mr. Friedman was awarded the Nobel Prize in economics and his ideas went on to serve as an intellectual framework supporting the economic policies that have led to unprecedented prosperity in the United States over the past two-and-a-half decades."

Milton was 94 years young when he passed, certainly his legacy and ideas will live long past his years on this earth.

I encourage you to click on the link above, it will take you to a Wall Street Journal page that has links to two speaches he made, "Capitalism and Freedom" and "A Monetary History of the United States, 1867-1960."

You won't fall asleep.....but if you do, don't feel bad!

Scott Dauenhauer, CFP, MSFP