Milton Friedman on Energy and oil
The greedy, selfish oil interests? If, as is frequently charged, they have conspired to create a shortage profitable to themselves, why have they been so slow? They are no more powerful now than they have been for many years. Why did they wait so long before squeezing the hapless consumer? And how do they make profits by having no oil to sell? By full-page advertisements urging consumers to economize on fuel? This is simply the irrational search for a devil.
Why Now?
Column, 1973, Newsweek (December 31, 1973); reprinted in full in the Congressional Record, Extensions of Remarks, January 24, 1974, p. 801, introduced by Representative John M. Ashbrook, who gives the issue as “the December 31, 1973 issue of Newsweek”, and reprinted again the same day at pp. 807 to 808 by Representative Earl F. Landgrebe, Congressional Record, January 24, 1974, p. 801
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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.
FEO and the Gas LinesColumn, 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. 4559The subtle and sophisticated people who fill the newspaper columns and the airwaves with such silly explanations of the gasoline shortage seem never to have asked themselves the obvious question: why is it that for a century and more before 1971, there were no energy crises, no gasoline shortages, no problems about fuel oil—except during World War II?
Blaming the ObstetricianColumn, 1979, Newsweek (June 4, 1979); reprinted in the Congressional Record, Extensions of Remarks, June 7, 1979, pp. 14007 to 14008, introduced by Representative G. William Whitehurst of Virginia, who describes it as “an article by Milton Friedman, which appeared in the June 4, 1979, issue of Newsweek”, Congressional Record, June 7, 1979, pp. 14007 to 14008Checked against the sourceRead the originalThere 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.
Blaming the ObstetricianColumn, 1979, Newsweek (June 4, 1979); reprinted in the Congressional Record, Extensions of Remarks, June 7, 1979, pp. 14007 to 14008, introduced by Representative G. William Whitehurst of Virginia, who describes it as “an article by Milton Friedman, which appeared in the June 4, 1979, issue of Newsweek”, Congressional Record, June 7, 1979, pp. 14007 to 14008Checked against the sourceRead the original
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