Video of Milton Friedman - The famous Economist ---> "There Is No Nirvana / Paradise On Earth. The Rich create jobs for the poor. The Rich deserve their wealth. Blame the government for the poverty."

Question asked by a woman (a layman / non-business woman) in the audience in a TV show (? Phil Donahue):  "Why is it that we have a lot of Millionaires in the United States, but there is still so many impoverished people? The rich have oodles and oodles of money. The poor find it difficult to find jobs. The rich people can only eat so much. Why do they want so much money and hoard so much money?"

Milton Friedman's response to the woman:

• "What do the rich do with their money? Do they hide it under their pillows? No.
• The rich invest in businesses. These businesses (factories and machines) create jobs for the poor. If rich people did not create these businesses, the poor would not have jobs.
• The improvements in productivity comes from money invested from the savings of the rich.
• There is no Nirvana on Earth. There is no paradise on Earth.
• What would be the wage rate today and the productivity today if the total amount of capital today was the same as what it was a 100 years ago?
• It is the responsibility of the government to take care of the poor people and not the responsibility of the rich people.
• It is the responsibility of the government to educate the poor. It is the result of wrong government policies that people are poor.
• The minimum wage set by government is wrong - it decreases the productivity".

My thoughts ---> "This is a very old video. I believe Mr.Friedman is no more now. Milton Friedman was a firm believer of Capitalism and the free Enterprise. A Conservative. A believer of the free market and minimum or no government intervention. He was perhaps on the extreme Right. I am more in the middle. I do not personally endorse all that he said. Milton Friedman was against CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility). Today, even the business / corporate world thinks differently.  CSR & Sustainability are important performance measures today. Doing good and doing well can go hand in hand".

- Gerry.