Milton Friedman

3 Pages 840 Words

Milton Friedman was born in New York City in 1912. His parents were poor immigrants, which means he did not have a family history of wealth or knowledge of economics. Friedman’s father died when Friedman was only fifteen years old. Friedman received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Rutgers University in 1932, a masters from the University of Chicago in 1933 (Friedmans). He also received a Ph.D. in 1946 from Columbia University. He taught at this same university from 1946 to 1976. He was also a member of the research staff of the National Bureau of Economic Research from 1937 to 1981. Friedman received the Nobel Memorial Prize for economic science in 1976 and has been a senior researcher at the Hoover Institution since 1977. He was awarded both the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the National Medal of Science in 1988. He was an informal economic advisor to President Nixon and a member of President Ronald Reagan’s Economic Policy Advisory Board (Milton Friedman).
Friedman believes America could be much better off if we were to legalize drugs. He thinks we would have half the amount of prisons and prisoners, and that there would be about 10,000 fewer homicides a year. He states that the same kind of the things that went on with alcohol under prohibition are the same kinds of things that go on today with drugs, things like overdosing and poisoning from mixing different substances. He believes since drugs are illegal, it drives people to do harder drugs like crack, cocaine, or heroin, instead of marijuana. Since marijuana is more bulky and heavy, it is easier to intercept. Crack, cocaine, and heroin are not as heavy and bulky and make it easier to transport without being caught. Friedman believes that if drugs were to be legalized, crack addicted mothers that do not have prenatal treatment, would go to prenatal care were because they would not be afraid of incriminating themselves. He thinks this will reduce the amount ...