Friedman Facts.com

In David Boaz’s new article this week in The Guardian, he argues that the reality of government behavior under crisis is miles from Klein’s claim.  The new administration is using the current economic “shock” to increase the size and power of the government, and Bush’s administration did just the same thing.  An excerpt:

And what happened? Did the Republican administration summon up the spirit of Milton Friedman and cut government spending? Did it deregulate and privatise?

No.

It did what governments actually do in a crisis – it seized new powers over the economy.

Obama’s plan to do the same thing, his shiny new stimulus plan, was discussed by University of Chicago economists last month . The video is available here.  It’s a fascinating and occasionally humorous look at the real economics of the stimulus plan, and in particular our audience may be interested in Robert Lucas’s mentions of Milton Friedman at approx. 33:00 and 37:30.