Tag Archives: Milton Friedman

Inflation lurks in the shadows. It destroys value by gradually eroding real returns over time. It is financial death by a thousand cuts. Investors too often look at "the numbers" in their portfolio without asking what those numbers can actually buy over time. It's a classic mistake that John Maynard Keynes termed "money illusion."

There are very few people over the generations who have had ideas that are sufficiently original to materially alter the direction of civilization. Milton Friedman was one of those very few people. Below are his views on governments, free trade and drugs.

Higher inflation expectations and the outlook for growth are still closely linked. This may be a revelation in some circles (or ignored or even damned in others), but it's been reality for several years now. [Let me explain why such is the case.] Words: 388

The past several quarters of improving real GDP may be nothing more than an interlude in a more sustained economic downturn, with further negative quarters still ahead. Such an outcome will suppress inflation further and quite possibly lead to deflation. Words: 1986

The U.S. caused the 1930s deflationary depression and is again the cause of the current contraction. Although similarities exist between the two, the differences between them insure a far more consequential outcome today than in the 1930s. [Indeed, the world] now finds itself on the edge of a growing deflationary sinkhole created by the sequential collapse of two large U.S. bubbles, the dot.com and U.S. real estate bubbles. Words: 1549

Niall Ferguson's book,The Ascent of Money, is an excellent, just-in-time guide to the history of finance and financial crisis in which he shows how promises and paper have lifted humans from subsistence farmers in Babylon to Masters of the Universe on Wall Street. Words: 975

What actually is inflation? Is it inherent in a free market economy? Who or what is the cause? Can inflation be stopped, and how? What to do? Most people are desperately confused and searching for answers. Society is facing nothing short of a crisis. Words: 850

America's massive debt and unfunded liabilities make inflation the only viable option for today’s policymakers because when the value of future dollars is diminished, future obligations in those depreciated dollars are diminished. Words: 2808