Milton Friedman Quotes

Government has a legitimate sphere of operation. The problem arises when that sphere continually expands, encompassing areas where government lacks legitimacy.

The line between what government does and what a company does is getting blurred.

The government playing entrepreneur is not a good role for the government.

There's a very good reason that governments aren't supposed to compete with private-enterprise companies. Governments have monopolies on certain things, like eminent domain and deadly force.

The government shouldn't run anything, because it cannot run anything.

Outside of its legitimate function, government does nothing as well or economically as the private sector.

When the private sector fails, the solution is more government. When the government fails, the solution is more government.

Americans are sick of the idea of the government taking over everything and trying to run it. We don't know how to run a bank, a car company.

We (British) have reached the state where the private sector is that part of the economy the government controls and the public sector is that part that nobody controls.

I think in the end the big issue is that the private sector still needs more help. And the answer is not more big government. I know in my state our reforms allowed us to protect firefighters, police officers, and teachers.

No company fails in communist China, because they're all partly owned by the government.

I am not someone who tends to advocate for increased government involvement in the private sector.

Government has a habit of blaming the private sector for its own failings while taking credit for advances we in fact owe to the private sector.

Canada was built from its very beginnings on the belief that public leadership in the economy and on social issues would be as effective and cheap as anything done by the private sector.

When the Federal Government undertakes to go into commercial business it must at once set up the organization and administration of that business, and it immediately finds itself in a labyrinth, every alley of which leads to the destruction of self government.

I do not believe in government ownership of anything which can with propriety be left in private hands, and in particular I should most strenuously object to government ownership of railroads. In my judgment public ownership of railroads is highly undesirable and would probably in this country entail far-reaching disaster.

Don’t look down over here Clement. Whenever you see something large, private and working well, you want to nationalize it.

Just because there is a market failure, doesn’t mean there is a government solution.

The left and right have been as bad as each other. The left has allowed its distrust of markets and endless faith in government to obscure the importance of civil society. The right has been so focused on replacing the state with markets that it has forgotten how to cultivate a trusting society

There are certain domains which are so vital to the well-being of citizens that they must be kept out of the private sector and the law of supply and demand.

The best thing that governments can do is get out of business. When governments interfere less, managers can do their jobs better.

In a mixed economy the public sector remains constrained by the overarching requirement of maintaining an efficient and profitable private sector.

From nuclear waste to Northern Rock and Metronet, risk is never transferred to the private sector - the state will always be forced to step in where there is a clear public interest.

President Coolidge said, 'I don't want the Government to go into business.' Well, if I was Mr. Coolidge I wouldn't worry over that. The Government never has been accused of being a business man.

The trouble with the social-democratic state is that, when government does too much, nobody else does much of anything.