The Fed was largely responsible for converting what might have been a garden-variety recession, although perhaps a fairly severe one, into a major catastrophe. Instead of using its powers to offset the depression, it presided over a decline in the quantity of money by one-third from 1929 to 1933 ... Far from the depression being a failure of the free-enterprise system, it was a tragic failure of government.
Milton FriedmanPersonal freedom has grown greatly within China, and that will provoke ever more points of conflict between the individual and state.
Milton FriedmanRapid increases in the quantity of money produce inflation. Sharp decreases produce depression.
Milton FriedmanThe invisible hand in politics operates in the opposite direction to the invisible hand in the market.
Milton FriedmanKeynes was a great economist. In every discipline, progress comes from people who make hypotheses, most of which turn out to be wrong, but all of which ultimately point to the right answer. Now Keynes, in 'The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money,' set forth a hypothesis which was a beautiful one, and it really altered the shape of economics. But it turned out that it was a wrong hypothesis. That doesn't mean that he wasn't a great man!
Milton Friedman