Milton Friedman Quotes

The central focus of what we are doing at the Fed is to keep inflation from accelerating - and preferably decelerating.

People forget how difficult it is to stop inflation or get it under control… I worry about it all the time.

Having a little inflation is like being a little bit pregnant.

Experience shows that high and unstable inflation can harm growth. A noninflationary macroeconomic policy is, therefore, a prerequisite for rapid development. Control of government borrowing is the crucial element in such a policy. When public borrowing is excessive, governments are soon obliged to finance it by printing money, and rising inflation then follows.

If by carelessness in controlling inflation and imposing controls on our general economy we are unable to meet these temporary but vital calls upon us, we will be courting real disaster.

Monetary stability is a cornerstone of the social contract.

Monetary policy is one of the most difficult topics in economics. But also, I believe, a topic of absolutely crucial importance for our prosperity.

The Congress has tasked the Federal Reserve with achieving stable prices and maximum employment - the dual mandate.

The Federal Reserve is committed to fulfilling our statutory mandate of stable prices and maximum employment.

Deflation isn't good, and inflation is easier to cure than deflation.

Achieving price stability is not only important in itself, it is also central to attaining the Federal Reserve's other mandate objectives of maximum sustainable employment and moderate long-term interest rates.

Low and stable inflation in many countries is an important accomplishment that will continue to bring significant benefits.

Whoever controls the volume of money in any country is absolute master of all industry and commerce.

Inflation is lower and more stable and the real business cycle fluctuations are more modest.

You have to change people’s minds to stop inflation.

Growth is good for this society as long as it doesn't pass the point of tripping off inflation.

I reject the advice of those who think the only way to fight inflation is to throw millions of people out of work .... I guarantee you that I will not fight inflation with your jobs.

The rich countries seem to need 5 or 6 percent unemployment to make the economy hum.

The natural tendency of the state is inflation.

What triggers recessions are abrupt drops in NGDP [Nominal Gross Domestic Product]. If NGDP grows too quickly, monetary policy is too loose. With too much money chasing each transaction, prices rise, and the result is inflation. If NGDP falls abruptly, on the other hand, monetary policy is too tight—there is no longer enough money to pay everyone who wants to work or to fund all the transactions that would otherwise take place, and the economy starts to contract.... removing several percentage points of expected NGDP growth will leave too little revenue to employ the existing work force at the wages they have negotiated. The result: rising unemployment.

Requiring the Fed to focus on preserving the purchasing power of the dollar will create a solid foundation for economic growth.

Growth is always there in the MPC's scheme of things; we don't lose sight of that, but not at the cost of inflation.

Hyperinflation is not going to happen in this country, will never happen... The Fed putting so much money into the system is not going to create the risk of hyperinflation in the future. We have a strong independent Federal Reserve with a very strong mandate from the Congress, and they will do what's necessary to keep inflation low and stable over time.

In the '30s, the Keynesian stuff worked at least in the sense that you could print money without inflation because there was all this productivity growth happening. That's not going to work today.

After a long period in which the desired direction for inflation was always downward, the industrialized world's central banks must today try to avoid major changes in the inflation rate in either direction.