Nhung Nguyen

Chapter 1: The Relation between Economic Freedom and Political Freedom

The author promotes economic freedom regarding to a necessary freedom and a vital means for political freedom. He argues that, it is nearly impossible for real dissent and exchange of ideas to exist, especially with the means for production under the auspices of the government. Moreover, economic freedom is also significantly important, because “bi-laterally voluntary and informed” transaction should benefit both parties to the transaction.

This chapter remind me to a new well-known book written by Amartya Sen, namely Development as freedom. Sen state that development is freedom, in which human can need the basic needs, have right to choose and have chance to self-develop. Obviously, one author presented the relationship between freedom and capitalism. Another pointed out the relationship between freedom and development. The message seems to be quite strong that development is capitalism? However, the global expansion of the capitalism is known also with various issues against development. By any mean of development, except for considering development as economic growth, humankind still need to take into consideration much more values alongside capitalism and its ways of economic expansion.

Chapter 5: Fiscal Policy

Friedman, on the contrary with Keynes, argues against the continual government spending justified to “balance the wheel” and help the economy to continue to grow. He affirmed that the federal government expenditures make the economy less, not more stable. Friedman uses concrete evidence from his own research, demonstrating that the rise in government expenditures results in a roughly equal rise in GDP.

Keynes is known as the author of one of the most controversial contentment in the 20^th century about economic development. However, there are numerous case proved the rightness of Keynesian economic. The things is that people as an economic factor need to choose to use this or that at the right time. But as far as I know, they have tend to take the wrong choice or wrong moment to do thing. This also remind me to the unchanged characteristic of economic: the change, the stable characteristic of economic: the instability, and the predicted characteristic of economic: the un-prediction.

Chapter 7: Capitalism and Discrimination

In a capitalist society, Friedman argues, it costs money to discriminate. In addition, it is very difficult, given the impersonal nature of market transactions. However, the government should not make fair employment practices laws as these inhibit the freedom to employ someone based on whatever qualifications the employer wishes to use. For the same reason, “right-to-work” laws should be abolished. The law make it illegal to require a membership in a union as a condition of employment. The author supported a contract that making non-membership of a union as a condition of employment.

It seems to me that Friedman support the absolute freedom, which gives people, economic and society chance to practice whatever that I wish to. However, it is also difficult to deal with the situation of violation of freedom among people in the society. It is likely that the author absolutely trust the theory of invisible hand by Adam Smith. He supported the society in which the government should not interfere to the economic process. The absolute freedom society has never been existed in the history of the world. However, this society requires the highest-level of self-awareness and self-control of its citizens.