Free To Choose Media Podcast
222 episodes - English - Latest episode: 14 days ago - ★★★★★ - 123 ratingsThe Free To Choose Media Podcast takes some of the greatest thinkers of the 20th Century and brings them right to your streaming device. Hear the ideas of Milton Friedman, along with several other Nobel Laureates, as they conduct speeches and hold conversations about the very freedoms we are still fighting for today. Come back each week to see why these truly are not just ideas for our time, but ideas for all time.
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Episodes
Episode 22 – International Movement of Wealth (Podcast)
March 28, 2019 12:16 - 52.4 MBMoney, wealth, and capital can move around the world in mere seconds. Within any economic structure, capital is the building block of prosperity. With relatively new ease of access to resources, how has that changed our society? Developing nations no longer need to start from scratch, or wait long periods of time to meet demand for certain items. This has fundamentally changed what is considered capital along with the way our world and our governments function. Author and Professor Richard B....
Episode 21 – Why Economists Disagree (Podcast)
March 21, 2019 12:14 - 49.8 MBDespite general agreement on the academic theory behind economics, the implementation of those findings into society usually leads to disagreement. There are simply too many variables within a society to achieve a consensus. So with the unpredictable nature of individuals, how can economists even begin to predict the results of their theories? Milton Friedman reflects on his process, “What we insist on is that you’re not able to predict random, irrational behavior. And therefore, the only kin...
Episode 20 – Charles Murray (Podcast)
March 14, 2019 12:11 - 51.4 MBWelfare programs are often touted as the saving grace of those living in poverty. But, as with any governmental program there tends to be unintended consequences despite noble intentions. How have welfare programs changed the overall culture of those living in poverty? It’s a question that most people have never posed to themselves. Social scientist Charles Murray has researched that very question for years. He poses that these programs have changed the perception of those who have money and ...
Episode 19 – Healthcare Reform (Podcast)
March 07, 2019 13:07 - 51.5 MBReforming healthcare is something that only gets more complicated with time. Rising costs, increased government involvement, and complex insurance policies only compound the problem further. These are problems that have been going on for decades with no clear resolution. But, what about looking at healthcare from an economic standpoint? Can market forces solve the problem? Noted economists Milton Friedman and Alain Enthoven once sat down to discuss exactly that. The start of the problem, they...
Episode 18 – James Buchanan (Podcast)
February 28, 2019 13:09 - 53.2 MBWhat is the most basic unit of our society which our values and norms are built around? For James Buchanan, that unit is the individual. It was his view that individual liberty should be the fundamental building block of a society. Laws and systems should be built around the protection of those individual rights in an effort to preserve liberty. His research and ideas won him a Nobel Prize in 1986, but underwent a transformation over the years. “I didn’t understand- had no understanding at al...
Episode 17 – Perspectives on Judicial Activism (Podcast)
February 21, 2019 13:03 - 25.3 MBThe court system of the United States is supposed to protect and uphold the Constitution, regardless of personal beliefs. Increasingly, over the past few decades more and more rulings seem to fall on the side of those individual beliefs, rather than what is written under law. This type of judicial activism is in direct conflict with what the court system is meant to be. Our government is founded on a system of checks and balances, but when a court has the final decision, who holds them in che...
Episode 16 – Walter Williams (Podcast)
February 14, 2019 13:00 - 54.6 MBJoin American economist and columnist Walter Williams as he discusses what influenced his unique, and often controversial, perspectives on economics. Williams is a unique thinker. Despite being African American he opposes the minimum wage, affirmative action, and believes the welfare state has done far more harm than good for those living in poverty. Although those views are major parts of his philosophy now, he didn’t always hold those views. As Walter Williams says about one of those revela...
Episode 15 – Milton Friedman Speaks – The Future of Our Society (Podcast)
February 07, 2019 13:30 - 39.1 MBWe live under government domination of the market economy. We have come a long way from a truly free economy. Consider the number of markets to which new firms do not have free access. Consider the erosion of expression for business people. Consider the plethora of government regulations American business must contend with. Can these trends be reversed? It is harder to repeal laws than pass them. Private business is unfortunately shortsighted when it turns to politics. But count among the fav...
Episode 14 – Milton Friedman Speaks – Equality and Freedom in the Free Enterprise System (Podcast)
January 31, 2019 13:16 - 77.7 MBIf the government has the power and responsibility to promote equality of income, then how do we define the concept of equality? Jefferson, in his Declaration of Independence, meant equality before the law, a concept necessary precisely because people are not equal in tastes, values, or capacities. Later, equality came to mean equality of opportunity—the chance to run a fair race. Within a free market system, both definitions are consistent with other values: Efficiency, justice, and liberty....
Episode 13 – Milton Friedman Speaks – Who Protects the Worker? (Podcast)
January 23, 2019 21:21 - 74.6 MBUnions offer protection to workers in some situations, but union membership represents only one fifth of the American labor force. And while some unions do benefit their members, it is generally at the expense of competing workers and frequently at the expense of the consumer. Government? Government provides some protection, but its efforts are minor. Some workers with only one possible employer—or with no possible employer— enjoy very little protection. The right answer to the question “Who ...
Episode 12 – Milton Friedman Speaks – Who Protects the Consumer? (Podcast)
January 16, 2019 21:22 - 77.8 MBConsumer legislation doesn’t protect the consumer in the end. Rather, it benefits the consumer advocates, including reformers, special interest groups, and regulatory agencies. What does protect the consumer? Alternative sources of supply at variable prices are the inevitable result of international competition—free trade. Milton does not mince words when it comes to his perception of the matter, “These agencies, these regulations, these bureaucrats have not only picked our pocket but they ha...
Episode 11 – Milton Friedman Speaks – Putting Learning Back in the Classroom (Podcast)
January 10, 2019 13:05 - 66.9 MBThe quality of public education in America today in many places is in a clear downward spiral. Dr. Friedman identifies the increasing centralization and bureaucratization of the educational establishment, which inhibits educators from seeing and responding to the needs of their “consumers” — parents and students; He also touches on our altered view of the relationship between the individual and society— the shift from seeing the individual as responsible for oneself to seeing the individual a...
Episode 10 – Milton Friedman Speaks – The Economics of Medical Care (Podcast)
January 03, 2019 13:15 - 40.8 MBIt is believed by some that increasing government involvement in medical care will take us toward fully socialized medicine. This trend is clearly against the interests of patients, physicians, and other health care personnel. There is of course, no such thing as “free” health care —you either pay for it directly, or via the tax system, with bureaucrats taking their usual cut along the way. The reality of the situation is that government involvement in the economics of medical care leads dire...
Episode 9 – Milton Friedman Speaks – The Energy Crisis (Podcast)
December 27, 2018 15:20 - 78.7 MBIt’s pointless to try to predict the availability of adequate sources of energy. What we need is an adjustable mechanism to enable us to adapt to whatever happens. We already have such a mechanism. The market helps us make transitions to the future—just as it has done in the past— if it is allowed to operate freely. Our prospects will be much improved if we can devise means to abolish —or at least work around—the government controls that interfere with the production and distribution and use ...
Episode 8 – Milton Friedman Speaks – Free Trade: Producer vs. Consumer (Podcast)
December 19, 2018 21:03 - 71.3 MBIf free trade is so good, why is protectionism so popular? Part of the answer lies in a simple political principle — interests that are concentrated (those of the producer) are more politically effective than interests that are diffused (those of the consumer). Protection does not create jobs or move goods; rather, it forces us to expend greater effort to get the goods we produce, since they cost more to produce at home than abroad. The balance of payments can take care of itself, provided we...
Episode 7 – Milton Friedman Speaks – Is Tax Reform Possible? (Podcast)
December 13, 2018 13:01 - 73.2 MBWhy do Americans pay more in taxes than they really want to? Can they do anything about it? Americans must understand that their true tax burden is what the government spends, regardless of how that spending is financed. If government spending goes up faster than prices in general, the real tax burden increases. Simplifying the system is far from easy, but the real defect is not in the tax system anyway, but in the budget structure. Our only hope for tax reduction is in establishing constitut...
Episode 6 – Milton Friedman Speaks – Money and Inflation (Podcast)
December 05, 2018 21:02 - 78.1 MBInflation is blamed on many things but it has only one cause. It is a monetary phenomenon. Inflation occurs when the quantity of money increases faster than the quantity of goods. Why does the money supply increase? Very often it does so to enable the government to pay its bills without raising taxes. There’s only one real cure for inflation. It is a cure that’s easy to describe but difficult to apply. The government must reduce spending and print less money. The alternatives are both recessi...
Episode 5 – Milton Friedman Speaks – What is Wrong with the Welfare State? (Podcast)
November 29, 2018 13:11 - 79 MBThe welfare state is an attempt to “do good” with someone else’s money. The aim may be worthy but the means are faulty. The problem is that you do not spend someone else’s money as carefully as your own. More to the point, it’s impossible to “do good” with someone else’s money without first taking it away from someone else. That implies coercion—the use of bad means to corrupt the good ends of the welfare state. Welfare programs implicitly encourage competition for government funds and create...
Episode 4 – Milton Friedman Speaks – The Role of Government in a Free Society (Podcast)
November 14, 2018 20:57 - 78.3 MBIf we are to define the role of government in a free society, we must first specify the needs a government is expected to provide. Defense from foreign enemies and protection of property, including the enforcement of private contracts, are clearly legitimate functions of government. But when we come to two other functions of government—providing a substitute for voluntary cooperation when it appears impossible to achieve, and providing for irresponsible individuals— the justification is much ...
Episode 3 – Milton Friedman Speaks – Is Capitalism Humane? (Podcast)
November 08, 2018 13:13 - 62.8 MBIs Capitalism humane? According to Milton Friedman, the question is irrelevant. Capitalism per se is not humane or inhumane; nor is Socialism. If we compare the two in terms of results, it is clear that only capitalism fosters equality and works toward social justice. The one is based on the principle of voluntary cooperation and free exchange, the other on force of position and power. In a free economy, it is hard to do good. You either have to use your own hard-earned money to do it or work...
Episode 2 – Milton Friedman Speaks – Myths That Conceal Reality (Podcast)
November 01, 2018 13:19 - 74.9 MBAccording to Milton Friedman, five myths cloud our perception of both the past and the present. (1) The “robber baron” myth which holds that in late nineteenth-century America there were powerful men who became rich at the expense of the poor. The reality is that they became wealthy by being productive, and that there is no other period in history which saw such a rapid and widespread improvement in the well-being of the average individual. (2) The myth that the Great Depression was caused by...
Episode 1 – Milton Friedman Speaks – What Is America? (Podcast)
October 26, 2018 15:00 - 65.3 MBIs America still the land of opportunity or is it a land worn thin showing much bureaucracy and less freedom? Dr. Friedman’s view of America’s present situation is not sanguine. He identifies the chief problem and its corollary solution: We must restore the prestige and influence of the single mechanism most responsible for America’s greatness— the free market. Our greatest defense against becoming over-governed is the free market. In the words of Milton Friedman, “(I ask) whether America is ...