Forty Two wrote:I don't see where I said anything about "pure laissez faire" and neither did Uncle Milton, who explains throughout any of his writings and available videos that there is a role for government.
Milton Friedman very much argues for pure laissez faire capitalism throughout the excerpts you linked to. For instance, he sees no value at all in government policies to alleviate poverty: "If you look at the real problems of poverty and denial of freedom to people in this country almost every single one of them is the result of government action and would be eliminated if you eliminated the bad government failures." (@1:56 in the second link). He goes on to oppose government regulation of (minimum wages) and government run education. Though he does not say anything about the health sector in the clips you provided, I expect he opposes provision of medical services and insurance by governments too. What functions does Friedman approve of other than national defence and enforcement of criminal law? Looks like he very much favours pure laissez faire capitalism, and to the extent you agree with his ideology, so do you.
Forty Two wrote:...free market capitalism within social democracy as the way to go, which, of course, is not socialism.
Capitalism in social democracies is not nearly as "free market" as Friedman and you would like. Capitalism in social democracies is nothing like the type of capitalism either of you advocate. Stop talking to us as if we were opposed to capitalism. Apart from sandinista and redunderthebed, neither of whom have posted here for years, none of us are. Most of us just subscribe to a different form of capitalism to yours.