Milton Friedman is Still Right

I still remember the TV series shown sometime during the 70s called “Free to Choose” where the basic idea is that government should not get involved in any business except perhaps law and order, strategic defense and basic infrastructure.

The series showed how government spending is inefficient and wastes lots of resources; without producing the desired effects.

The basic function of a good government is to provide a secure environment and the framework of law and order so that market forces will determine how resources are allocated.

Some of you perhaps think this is really old fashioned and concepts like “supply side economics” or Reaganomics would be more apt. Whatever we do, we should never spend more than we earn.

So the Malaysian government’s plan to cut our deficit and reduce subsidies is headed in the right direction.

The USA may get away with it for some years but wait until India and China become economic superpowers. People the world over may just decide that no one owes the USA a free lunch by continuing to finance their enormous annual deficit and then the USA will surely decline.

What has all this to do with Malaysians?

Well, we still have the NEP type program and after 30 years, people are demanding, “Show Us the Money!”
Government policies of the past have created a elite group of a few super-rich with many citizens still struggling to secure basic necessities.