A major source of objection to a free economy is precisely that it gives people what they want instead of what a particular group thinks they ought t… - Milton Friedman

Underlying most arguments against the free market is a lack of belief in freedom itself.

At the bottom of many criticisms of the market economy is really lack of belief in freedom itself.

Se colocarmos o Estado para administrar o Deserto do Saara, em 5 anos faltará areia.

Had the Federal Reserve System never been established, and had a similar series of runs started, there is little doubt that the same measures would have been taken as in 1907 — a restriction of payments.

As these remarks indicate, the Social Security program involves a transfer from the young to the old. To some extent such a transfer has occurred throughout history—the young supporting their parents, or other relatives, in old age. Indeed, in many poor countries with high infant death rates, like India, the desire to assure oneself of progeny who can provide support in old age is a major reason for high birth rates and large families. The difference between Social Security and earlier arrangements is that Social Security is compulsory and impersonal—earlier arrangements were voluntary and personal. Moral responsibility is an individual matter, not a social matter. Children helped their parents out of love or duty. They now contribute to the support of someone else’s parents out of compulsion and fear. The earlier transfers strengthened the bonds of the family; the compulsory transfers weaken them.