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John Robson: What Milton Friedman Said 5 Decades Ago About Government Spending Still Holds True Today

John Robson: What Milton Friedman Said 5 Decades Ago About Government Spending Still Holds True Today
Milton Friedman, recipient of the 1976 Nobel Prize for economic science, speaks during a White House event in Washington on May 9, 2002. Alex Wong/Getty Images
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Commentary
A friend’s mother was fond of saying there’s no good way to do a bad thing, and no bad time to do a good one. It’s true of public policy as of life generally, which is why both the public and politicians should talk more about principles and less about motives or tactics. And just as I was wrestling with applying this maxim to the current fiscal mess, someone Xed the classic Milton Friedman line to “Keep your eye on how much the Government is spending, because that is the true tax.”
John Robson
John Robson
Author
John Robson is a documentary filmmaker, National Post columnist, senior fellow at the Aristotle Foundation, contributing editor to the Dorchester Review, and executive director of the Climate Discussion Nexus. His most recent documentary is “The Environment: A True Story.”