Milton Friedman goldmine

I just discovered the YouTube channel BasicEconomics. It has tons of original Milton Friedman lectures, including the question and answer sessions that followed, along with other videos that liberty intellectuals will love. This is right up there with LearnLiberty and FreedomChannel as an aggregator of free-market videos.

From Friedman's extended lectures I have already learned that Keynes' support of protectionist trade policies was a temporary political compromise, not a shift in understanding, and that my history textbooks butchered a great story about John D. Rockefeller.

Late in his life, Rockefeller had a clever response when people would walk up to him on the street and criticize his wealth. After they would say he should share it with the rest of the country, Rockefeller would ask them if they wanted to receive an equal share of what everyone would get if he split up his wealth. After they said yes, he would hand them a single dime.

My history book merely said that he would hand out dimes to people on the street. Friedman's version is an actual lesson, not a quirky anecdote.