Voice Over: From his base in Stockholm Sweden, analyst and author Johan Norberg travels in
the foot steps of Nobel laureate Milton Friedman to examine the relevance of Friedman’s ideas
in today’s world. Norberg: Milton Friedman traveled the world
to examine various economic systems. He concluded that for most people, an emphasis on economic
freedom would lead to both individual and political freedom. Many commentators say that
Milton Friedman did more for freedom than anybody else in recent decades. He convinced
many nations to embrace economic freedom. NORBERG: When Milton Friedman died in 2006,
The Economist magazine’s obituary had the headline, “How Milton Freed Man.” On the
other hand…writers like the Canadian anti-capitalist, Naomi Klein, claim that he helped authoritarians
by advising them to adopt free market economic policies.
So who’s right? Friedman would advise us to test his ideas by examining the evidence
of recent history. FRIEDMAN: If you want to see how the free
market really works, this is the place to come.
Hong Kong, a place with hardly any natural resources; about the only one you could name
is a great harbor. Yet the absence of natural resources hasn’t prevented rapid economic
development. Voice Over: On a back street Norberg encounters
the very same craftsman Friedman visited in 1980, to find that Friedman’s prediction
has indeed come true. NORBERG: And Mr. Cheung is still here, and
nowadays he produces more things for the tourist trade. …thank you, Mr. Cheung
Voice Over: And in Washington D.C., Norberg finds that Friedman’s words from 1980 still
resonate today. Friedman: … there’s hardly an issue in
which you won’t find government on both sides.
For example, in one of these massive buildings scattered all through this town, filled to
the bursting with government employees, some of them are sitting around trying to figure
out how to spend our money to discourage us from smoking cigarettes. In another of the
massive buildings, maybe far away from the first, some other employees, equally dedicated,
equally hardworking…are sitting around figuring out how to spend our money, to subsidize farmers
to grow more tobacco.
NORBERG: Well, it’s obvious that things haven’t changed much. U.S. politicians still
spend tax dollars on anti-smoking campaigns. And tobacco farming is still subsidized by
the government. Every government intervention results in unintended
consequences. These consequences have to be dealt with as well, and that leads to new
unintended consequences. The result is a constant growth of government. In 1980, Friedman designed
a very graphic way to highlight this problem.
FRIEDMAN: The federal regulations that govern our lives are available in many places. One
set is here, in the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. In 1936, the federal government
established the Federal Register to record all of the regulations, hearings, and other
matters connected with the agencies in Washington. This is Volume 1, Number 1.
In 1936, it took three volumes like this to record all these matters. In 1937, it took
four, and then it grew, and grew, and grew. At first rather slowly and gradually, but
even so, year-by-year it took a bigger and bigger pile to hold all the regulations and
hearings for that year. Then around 1970, came a veritable explosion…so that one pile
is no longer enough to hold the regulations for that year. It takes two, and then three
piles, until, on one day in 1977, September 28th, the Federal Register had no fewer than
1,754 pages… and these aren’t exactly what you would call small pages, either.
No matter where you come from, whenever there is a problem, it’s tempting to look to the
government for solutions. Since the recession of 2008, we’ve seen unprecedented government
intervention in the financial sector, and in the automotive industry. We’ve seen new
spending programs, more tariffs and new regulations. And we’ve seen the largest buildup of government
debt in American history; a debt that might haunt us for generations.
Voice Over: Free or Equal: A Personal View with Johan Norberg can be seen on public television
stations nationwide. Consult local listings for times and channel.