Milton Friedman in End the Fed, by Rep. Ron Paul (R, TX)

On Budget & Economy: The Great Depression was the fault of the Federal Reserve

Bernanke's comment to Milton Friedman at a dinner honoring Professor Friedman's ninetieth birthday on November 8, 2002, reveals it all. He apologized to Professor Friedman and said Friedman was absolutely right--the Depression was the fault of the Federal Reserve. It wasn't the fault of the central bank managing a fiat currency or participating in credit expansion or debt monetization; the problem lay only with the Federal Reserve's inability or unwillingness to inflate the currency early and massively starting in 1929.

Bernanke closed his remarks by directly addressing Friedman: "You're right, we did it. We're very sorry. But thanks to you, we won't do it again."

Source: End the Fed, by Rep. Ron Paul, p.110-111 Sep 29, 2010

On Budget & Economy: Money supply needs to expand, to support economic growth

What did Milton Friedman believe about money? He was a free-market economist who called himself a libertarian and contributed tremendously to an understanding of how the free market works. There was, however, strong disagreement between Milton Friedman and the hard-money camp of the Austrian school. Friedman believed that the money supply needed to expand in order to support economic growth. He despaired, from time to time, of the Fed's incentive to do what was right, but he believed in the old monetarist principle that the money supply needed to expand by some amount. Source: End the Fed, by Rep. Ron Paul, p.112 Sep 29, 2010

The above quotations are from End the Fed, by Rep. Ron Paul. Click here for main summary page. Click here for a profile of Milton Friedman. Click here for Milton Friedman on all issues.
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Page last updated: Dec 18, 2011