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Milton Friedman on What government is for

We have heard much these past few years of how the government protects the consumer. A far more urgent problem is to protect the consumer from the government.
An Economist's Protest: Columns in Political Economy
Book, 1966, p. 107
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  1. There is no place for government to prohibit consumers from buying products the effect of which will be to harm themselves.
    Who protects the consumer?
    Television, 1980, PBS, vol. 7
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  2. It takes several years for monetary growth to exert its full influence on prices. As a result, we have so far experienced only the early effects of the nearly 8 percent rate of growth of the past year and a half.
    The Inflationary Fed
    Column, 1973, Newsweek, August 27, 1973; reprinted in the Congressional Record, Extensions of Remarks, November 7, 1973, p. 36327, introduced by Representative Robert Huber of Michigan as “Mr. Milton Friedman’s article that appeared in Newsweek of August 27, 1973”, Congressional Record, November 7, 1973, p. 36327
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  3. Is rationing the solution? Far from it. It is the problem. We already have rationing of producers and distributors. Coupon rationing of final consumers would simply be the hair of the dog that bit you.
    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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