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Milton Friedman on Energy and oil

On energy, I recommend that the Department of Energy be abolished. Effective the earliest possible date, I am removing all controls on the prices of crude oil, natural gas and other petroleum products, confident that the market will promptly bring the energy crisis to an end.

Context. From a 1979 Newsweek column. The column is framed as a daydream: he imagines President Carter giving a televised talk, and everything inside the talk is his own recommendation voiced through that imagined Carter, not anything Carter said. The second policy change the imagined talk announces.

What Carter Should Do
Column, 1979, Newsweek, June 18, 1979; reprinted in the Congressional Record, Extensions of Remarks, June 13, 1979, p. 14740, introduced by Representative G. William Whitehurst of Virginia, who cites “the June 18, 1979, issue of Newsweek”, Congressional Record, June 13, 1979, p. 14740
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Milton Friedman, “What Carter Should Do” (Newsweek, June 18, 1979; reprinted in the Congressional Record, Extensions of Remarks, June 13, 1979, p. 14740, introduced by Representative G. William Whitehurst of Virginia, who cites “the June 18, 1979, issue of Newsweek”, 1979), Congressional Record, June 13, 1979, p. 14740. https://miltonfriedman.org/quotes/abolish-department-of-energy-remove-controls-1979

Quoted for commentary and research. Rights in the underlying work remain with its rights holder, so cite the work itself, not only this page.

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He also said

  1. There is one simple way to end the energy crisis and the gasoline shortage tomorrow—and I mean tomorrow and not six months from now, not six years from now. Eliminate all controls on the price of crude oil and other petroleum products. The gasoline lines would melt faster than the snows of winter. Other misguided policies of government and the monopolistic behavior of the OPEC cartel might keep petroluem products expensive, but they would not produce the disorganization, chaos and confusion that we now confront.

    Context. “petroluem” is the Congressional Record’s own misspelling and is reproduced as printed. The same excerpt spells “petroleum” correctly two sentences earlier, exactly as the page does. The excerpt joins two adjacent paragraphs of the source with nothing omitted between them, and stops at a paragraph end just before the subhead “GAS WOULD COST LESS”.

    Blaming the Obstetrician
    Column, 1979, Newsweek (June 4, 1979); reprinted in the Congressional Record, Extensions of Remarks, pp. 14007 to 14008, introduced by Representative G. William Whitehurst of Virginia. The running head reads June 7, 1979, which is the issue; the entry’s own dateline reads Wednesday, June 6, 1979, which is when he spoke., Congressional Record, June 7, 1979, p. 14008
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  2. The way to end long lines at gas stations is to abolish FEO and end all controls on the prices and allocation of petroleum products. Within a few weeks, your friendly dealer would again be cleaning your windshield with a smile.

    Context. From a Newsweek column of March 4, 1974, written in Chicago during the gasoline lines of early 1974, after the Arab oil embargo and under the price and allocation controls administered by the Federal Energy Office, headed by William E. Simon.

    FEO and the Gas Lines
    Column, 1974, Newsweek, March 4, 1974; reprinted in the Congressional Record, Extensions of Remarks, February 27, 1974, pp. 4559 to 4560, introduced by Representative John H. Rousselot of California, who gives it as the column of “Newsweek columnist, Dr. Milton Friedman, in the March 4, 1974, issue”; reprinted again in Extensions of Remarks, April 30, 1974, p. 12454, by Representative Steven D. Symms, from The Freeman (Foundation for Economic Education), Congressional Record, February 27, 1974, p. 4560
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  3. After the Arabs cut output, Germany imposed no price controls on petroleum products. It did initially restrict Sunday driving but soon removed that restraint. The price of petroleum products jumped some 20 or 30 per cent, but there were no long lines, no disorganization. The greedy consumers found it in their own interest to conserve oil in the most painless way. The greedy oil tycoons found it in their own interest to see to it that petroleum products were available for those able and willing to pay the price.

    Context. From a Newsweek column of March 4, 1974, written in Chicago during the gasoline lines of early 1974, after the Arab oil embargo and under the price and allocation controls administered by the Federal Energy Office, headed by William E. Simon. Earlier in the column he mocks the rhetoric that blamed the lines on greedy consumers and oil tycoons; “greedy” here echoes it.

    FEO and the Gas Lines
    Column, 1974, Newsweek, March 4, 1974; reprinted in the Congressional Record, Extensions of Remarks, February 27, 1974, pp. 4559 to 4560, introduced by Representative John H. Rousselot of California, who gives it as the column of “Newsweek columnist, Dr. Milton Friedman, in the March 4, 1974, issue”; reprinted again in Extensions of Remarks, April 30, 1974, p. 12454, by Representative Steven D. Symms, from The Freeman (Foundation for Economic Education), Congressional Record, February 27, 1974, p. 4559
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