Quote #46

Complete free trade is not politically feasible. Why? Because it's only in the general interest and in no one's special interest. The benefits of a tariff are visible. [Union workers] can see they are 'protected'. The harm which a tariff does is invisible. It's spread widely. There are people that don't have jobs because of tariffs but they don't know it.

More from Milton Friedman

  1. Everywhere, and at all times, economic progress has meant far more to the poor than to the rich.
  2. Corruption is government intrusion into market efficiencies in the form of regulations.
  3. If you pay people not to work and tax them when they do, don't be surprised if you get unemployment.
  4. Only a crisis, real or perceived, produces real change. When that crisis occurs, the actions that are taken depend on the ideas that are ly…
  5. What would the people who sold us goods do with the money? They'd get dollars. What would they do with the dollars? Eat them?!
  6. The stock market and economy are two different things.
  7. What is not forbidden in Sweden, is obligatory.
  8. I'm in favor of legalizing drugs. According to my values system, if people want to kill themselves, they have every right to do so. Most of…

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