Milton Friedman on Slavery and Colonization Video

This clip is from the 15-part lecture series, "Milton Friedman Speaks" http://www.ideachannel.com/product_info.php?products_id=1137

Transcript available via FreedomChannel: http://freedomchannel.blogspot.com/2007/12/milton-friedman-on-slavery.html


Summary:

A student poses a question to Milton Friedman in which he asks for an appraisal of just how exactly the riches that now exist in the so called "capitalist democracies" were obtained and how those countries became so rich so quick. Specifically he asks Friedman to account for the effect that having free labor derived from slavery allowed them to enrich themselves, and how the possession of colonies allowed rich countries to bleed wealth out of their colonial domains.

Friedman responds by claiming it's simply untrue that the wealth that arose in Western countries was due to slavery. Slavery was a disgrace and a blot on the United States' record, but many rich Western nations did not have slavery. Britain and Japan did not have slaves when they developed and Hong Kong does not have slaves today.

He goes onto claim that the facts are against the notion that the wealth was created due to the West exploiting its colonies. The reason people are quick to think so is that they have an ingrained predisposition to see view the world as a zero-sum game where if one man gains the other man looses. In reality a free market allows everyone to gain through mutually beneficial voluntary transactions. When the West colonized Africa they brought with them technology that greatly improved the condition of the people that lived there and actually made them better off. The wheel for example had not even been invented in Africa in the 19th century. As a result of Africa's contacts with the West their condition improved greatly from what it previously was.

To the charge that colonizers bleed wealth from their colonies, Friedman notes that it has always cost the mother country more to maintain its colonies then what was ever received in direct or indirect economic benefit. In the famous case of India, conclusive studies have shown that it cost Britain far more to maintain India then if it had never had it. Furthermore, many Western nations never possessed colonies yet became wealthy despite that fact.

See also:

Free to Choose - All 15 episodes streaming online for free
http://www.ideachannel.tv

A history of Free to Choose
http://www.freetochoose.com

Wow? Milton, ...
Wow? Milton, Britain did have slaves, it was abolished prior to the American revolution

We have over 700 ...
We have over 700 military bases set up around the globe, so Friedman was right when he said America doesn't have colonies of its own. I'm? also right when I say we have over 700 empirical domains established around the globe. History repeating itself is no coincidence in the age of men, it can only be considered repetition.

technically i was ...
technically i was looking for? the word "capitalism" in the constitution. you people claim the constitution is a "dead" document. so where is the explicit doctrine of "capitalism" in it? it doesn't exist. but nice try dancing around it tho. and as for "property rights" in america, there was about 100 years of owning people, is that what you mean by property rights?

OWNED. Ron Paul ...
OWNED. Ron Paul 2012?

Private property ...
Private property rights (4th, 5th, 9th and 10th amendments), taxes must be apportioned (irrespective of the 16th amendment of 1913) "No Capitation, or other direct, Tax shall be laid, unless in Proportion? to the Census or enumeration herein before directed to be taken." Section 9. No Tax or Duty shall be laid on Articles exported from any State.

Boy Friedman wasn't ...
Boy Friedman wasn't afraid to speak to complete idiots. By the way free speech doesn't entitle you to someone else's microphone, auditorium or ears. They should have kicked that home boys ass outta there. He can have his free speech in the alley? talking to the cats.

Skip to 2:10 if you ...
Skip to 2:10 if you don't want to hear the guy babbling on.?

Life liberty and ...
Life liberty and the pursuit of happiness IS part of the consistution as is the right to personal property and against illegal search and seizure. If? you know one other economic model other than capitalism that doesn't defy on one of those mediums as a means of enforcing their laws...the floor is yours (hint: there isn't one).

Because you can't ...
Because you can't have a limited government in any? other way.

I love the "look ...
I love the "look how people vote with your feet" comment. ? Overlay a map of the red/blue states in the US with a map of population change in the last 10 years. They match almost perfectly, and the blue states are the ones losing their population.

milton friedman is ...
milton friedman is like an intelligent glenn beck... somewhere between a rock and sanity. or if you prefer, sean hannity. i love it, "i agree with you so let me finish". lol, friedman thinks american capital isn't run by the state. "where... every where we have freedom, we have capitalism". uh,? no. every where we have democracy, we have freedom. where does the constitution say anything about capitalism or christianity? tell me how capitalism is constitutional?

DEad? ?
DEad? ?

Alright, tbh, idgaf ...
Alright, tbh, idgaf anymore. You can feel free to read all my previous comments, and if you know how to? use google, you can read all about the history of Indian civilization, but I'm not going to sit here and argue with you or give you a history lesson.

This? guy looks ...
This? guy looks like a massive tool.

I would hardly call ...
I would hardly call India civilized? even today.

LOL But now in all ...
LOL But now in all seriousness: Long live? the struggle for self-determination of labor!

xD?
xD?

BETTER? RED THAN ...
BETTER? RED THAN DEAD ?

"better red? then ...
"better red? then dead" It's rather humorous that you say "then" in place of "than", as if to imply that "dead" follows as a consequence of "red". lol

first of all the ...
first of all the brittish never attempted to ethnically cleanse you, that? is just incorrect. second of all i think there is very little evidence that what the brittish did in the middle east is the reason for the "strife"., or that theyre atempt to hold onto empire leads eu into "decline". Finnaly, "we didnt appreciate their rule" you can only speak for yourself.. I know in northern ireland there is a significant population who are very pro-brittain.

Puerto Rico is ...
Puerto Rico is still a colony? since 1898

To life liberty & ...
To life liberty & the pursuit? of anyone who gets in the way.

for socialism yes ...
for socialism yes communism no ?

Civilized? The ...
Civilized? The British destroyed my culture in Ireland, wiped? out our language and attempted to ethnically cleanse us...we didnt appreciate their rule. Their activities in the middle east in the early 1900s led to much of the strife that is now there and their frequent attempts to hold on to Empire leads the EU into decline...yes, at least british education has taught my nation a thing a two about just how uncivilizing a force they have been..

I guess that worked ...
I guess that worked well for Russia, China,? N Korea and all the other formor soviet blocks.

I prefere to die on ...
I prefere to die on my feet than live on my knees.?

sorry to burst your ...
sorry to burst your bubble but China hasn't been Maoism govt since 1981 since then its been mixed socialist market economy thanks to traitors like Deng Xiaoping now communist name in used in vain. though they have skyscrapers and all the? but life there is still hard govt now is no more then a despotism govt

WORKERS? OF THE ...
WORKERS? OF THE WORLD UNITE! -KARL MARX

The oppressed are ...
The oppressed are allowed once every few years? to decide which particular representatives of the oppressing class are to represent and repress them. -Karl Marx