This relatively small book (202 pages) does an excellent job of making the case that economic freedom (capitalism) is necessary to truly have most other freedoms we value as Americans. Freedom of the press is worth little without the freedom to invest capital in a printing press. Freedom of assembly is worth little if you cannot spend the money required to buy or rent the space in which the assembly takes place.
Of course, economic freedom is a goal in it self. Is it not better for consumers to deal with vendors that take the best care of them and their needs or desires? Is it not good that people can create new products rather than just create what some bureaucrat specifies?
What are the enemies of economic freedom? Friedman mentions the government control of monetary value (as opposed to a commodity standard, such as the gold standard) through a central bank. He also discusses exchange rate control, foreign trade restrictions, government run schools, taxing different income at different rates (as in progressive income taxes) and licensure provisions (restricting particular enterprises or occupations to people who have a license). In each of these cases, he explains what freedoms are lost as the government takes the action.
Relationship to the ComingTogether Plan: We would agree with Friedman regarding most of what he specifies in this book as reducing freedom. We join with most Americans in believing freedom is good, and therefore we tend toward preferring free markets.
However, Dr. Friedman would probably oppose the levels of taxation required to support the ComingTogether Plan. That is a big part of why we talk about the ComingTogether Plan as a compromise. Like other forms of security, economic security costs money. To be sure every American citizen has the basic necessities of and for life is expensive. The efficiencies of the ComingTogether Plan would actually reduce the total cost of doing this, and would make the costs more transparent to those paying them. And we would show Dr. Friedman that the ComingTogether Plan provides greater freedom to the recipients of government benefits than that offered them under current government programs. Consider the following examples:
- To have the government pay for many education costs, current students must get that education at government run schools. Under the ComingTogether Plan, the government funds basic education without controlling it.
- Some efforts at providing government assistance for housing have required that the recipients of the housing live in government owned or specified housing. Again, under the ComingTogether Plan, the government funds basic housing without directly providing it.
In Chapter 12, on the alleviation of poverty, Dr. Friedman makes important points. First, poverty is relative. There will always be some who have less than others, so, as Jesus said in Mark 14:7, the poor will always be with us. Therefore, do not expect to eradicate poverty. Second, government welfare activities have the effect of reducing the private charitable activities aimed at reducing poverty. Third, Americans, as compassionate people, like to see the reduction of poverty, but tend to condition their contributions on the involvement of all. In other words, many individuals do not want to contribute to this cause if only they and a few others bear the entire burden. This provides the reason for government involvement in providing basic support to citizens. And fourth, any government program should treat citizens equally, not with eligibility based upon occupation, age, or industry. His third and fourth points strongly support the approach outlined in the ComingTogether Plan.
Overall, we recommend this book to the student of economics as one that points out an important advantage of involving the free market in any plan for the economic structure of a country.