With a Hat Tip to Dr. Alex Chafeun who posted a link to Dr. Friedman's speech referenced here on his Facebook page.
One of Dr. Milton Friedman's books that has had a profound impact on me is Capitalism and Freedom not to mention his epic book and TV series Free to Choose.
From what I have read of Professor Friedman's work, there is an element of logic that is incomparable to so many in his field at the time.
He even discussed "Neo-Liberalism" in a meaningful way as far back as 1951. Of course this is a topic the left demonises these days.
Here's a quote:
"...Until a few years ago, there was a widespread—if naive—faith among even the intellectual classes that nationalization would replace production for profit with production for use, whatever these catchwords may mean; that centralized planning would replace unplanned chaos with efficient coordination; that it was only necessary to give the State more power in order to solve the supposed paradox of poverty in the midst of plenty and to prevent the “selfish interests” from exploiting the working masses; and that because socialists favoured peace and international amity, socialism would in some unspecified way further these goals."
If we follow the course of the effects of nationalization and centralized planning since then, it is quite obvious the "Socialists of all parties" were wrong. "Dead" wrong.
In his presentation Friedman notes some important roles for government and mentions that competition "would require the avoidance of state regulation of entry, the establishment of rules for the operation of business enterprises that would make it difficult or impossible for an enterprise to keep out competitors by any means other than selling a better product at a lower price, and the prohibition of combinations of enterprises or actions by enterprises in restraint of trade." This is an anathema to statists.
In any event, Dr. Friedman's brief explanation of Neo-Liberalism here appears to be an attempt to strike a balance between the free market and state intervention.
He closed his speech noting that if certain obstacles could be overcome, "neo-liberalism offers a real hope of a better future, a hope that is already a strong cross-current of opinion and that is capable of capturing the enthusiasm of men of good-will everywhere, and thereby becoming the major current of opinion."
An interesting talk no matter one's political persuasion.
