Tuesday, November 21, 2006
"It's Milton Friedman's Fault. I'm glad he's dead"
Check out the way the ghouls at the Huffington Post -specifically, Jeff Dorchen - eulogize the late economist, Milton Friedman.
In addition to proving himself a pathetic, uncharitable human being, his economic argument concerning Hertz is simply incoherent. If Hertz was privately held while its new owners, the Carlyle Group, leveraged the company and drove down income prior to issuing the IPO, who was hurt? Well, the owners of the company. Who ELSE does he think ought to be hurt if a company is mismanaged?
Further, he's an idiot. I'm a middle-class guy. The most money I've ever made was as a lieutenant on active duty. I'm not one of those guys who makes a ton more money in the private sector than I do in the military. I haven't been able to qualify for a single-family home in South Florida on one income, nor do I expect to any time soon. Them's the breaks.
My single largest asset, then, is my stake in mutual funds that pay qualified dividends - just like those Hertz paid to its owners. That cut in taxes on qualified dividends helps ME.
Further, does this idiot think companies SHOULDN'T pay dividends? What on earth do people start companies for? All stock prices are is simply a claim on future dividends. You can buy for the dividends themselves - or simply for the claims.
This fool - who calls private ownership (economic freedom) a "fetish," can't tell the difference between venture capitalism and Enron. (He even says as much.)
There is a hell. What Jeff Dorchen doesn't know is this: He's already in it.
I wish him a happy Thanksgiving. He needs it more than he knows.
Hat tip: Memeorandum
The University of Chicago has developed some great thinkers, and two major intellectual embarrassments. How Strauss and Friedman became the Romulus and Remus of a misbegotten neo-Roman Empire is a question for an expert on the mass psychology of fascism. But at least Strauss has had the good manners to be dead for the last thirty-three years. Noting the enviable status of his doppelganger in the Philosophy Department, Milton Friedman has finally come to his senses.
I don't believe in Hades. But I do believe Milton Friedman is being tortured there by demons that resemble what Penn Gillette might look like naked, or even worse. Good lord, I'm sorry about that image. Anyhow, Friedman's lack of self-doubt is infectious enough that, even in death, he makes me certain he's being tortured in a Hades I don't even believe in. Now, that's one evil economist.
If you don't know what he looks like, picture former Federal Reserve chief Alan Greenspan with a sunny disposition, a slight jowl tuck, and a light sprinkling of Retin A. Then picture Penn Gillette naked again. Which one made you sicker?
In addition to proving himself a pathetic, uncharitable human being, his economic argument concerning Hertz is simply incoherent. If Hertz was privately held while its new owners, the Carlyle Group, leveraged the company and drove down income prior to issuing the IPO, who was hurt? Well, the owners of the company. Who ELSE does he think ought to be hurt if a company is mismanaged?
Further, he's an idiot. I'm a middle-class guy. The most money I've ever made was as a lieutenant on active duty. I'm not one of those guys who makes a ton more money in the private sector than I do in the military. I haven't been able to qualify for a single-family home in South Florida on one income, nor do I expect to any time soon. Them's the breaks.
My single largest asset, then, is my stake in mutual funds that pay qualified dividends - just like those Hertz paid to its owners. That cut in taxes on qualified dividends helps ME.
Further, does this idiot think companies SHOULDN'T pay dividends? What on earth do people start companies for? All stock prices are is simply a claim on future dividends. You can buy for the dividends themselves - or simply for the claims.
This fool - who calls private ownership (economic freedom) a "fetish," can't tell the difference between venture capitalism and Enron. (He even says as much.)
Kellogg, Brown and Root also had an IPO the very same day, and a much more well-received one. What do they do? They sell goods and services to Operation Iraqi Bloody Death Rip-off and then don't deliver them. Then, when Dick Cheney is finally spat out of the public sector like a rancid peanut, they'll put him back on the board of directors so he can teleconference his dispeptic gripes from the comfort of his swimming pool full of human blood.
There is a hell. What Jeff Dorchen doesn't know is this: He's already in it.
I wish him a happy Thanksgiving. He needs it more than he knows.
Hat tip: Memeorandum
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