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Milton Friedman on Government spending and deficits

From the political point of view, increased spending may initially be designed to be temporary but few things become more permanent than temporary spending. Hence, the economists are in fact calling for a still higher level of government spending yet, in my view, reducing the scope of government is our most important single objective.
Interview with Milton Friedman
Interview, 1992, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, The Region, Interview by David Levy, June 1, 1992
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  1. The most important single central fact about a free market is that no exchange takes place unless both parties benefit.
    Commanding Heights: Milton Friedman interview
    Interview, 2000, PBS, “The Economic Logic Behind Black Markets,” interview conducted October 1, 2000
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  2. To state this conclusion differently, there is always a temporary trade-off between inflation and unemployment; there is no permanent trade-off. ( … ) The widespread belief that there is a permanent trade-off is a sophisticated version of the confusion between “high” and “rising” that we all recognize in simpler forms. A rising rate of inflation may reduce unemployment, a high rate will not.
    The Role of Monetary Policy
    Journal article, 1968, American Economic Review 58, no. 1 (March 1968), pp. 1–17; reprinted in the House Banking and Currency Committee’s 1968 Compendium on Monetary Policy Guidelines and Federal Reserve Structure, pp. 214–224, p. 220 of the 1968 House reprint
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  3. I believe along with Parkinson that government will spend whatever the tax system will raise plus a good deal more. Every step we take to strengthen the tax system, whether by getting people to accept payroll taxes they otherwise would not accept, or by cooperating in enacting higher income taxes and excise taxes or whatnot, fosters a higher level of government spending. That's why I am in favor of cutting taxes under any circumstances, for whatever excuse, for whatever reason.
    The Limitations of Tax Limitation
    Journal article, 1978, Policy Review (The Heritage Foundation); reprinted in the Congressional Record, Extensions of Remarks, June 7, 1979, pp. 14069 to 14071, introduced by Representative Hamilton Fish, Jr. of New York as “an article by Dr. Friedman published in Policy Review, the quarterly journal of The Heritage Foundation”, Congressional Record, June 7, 1979, p. 14070
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