What allowed him to be so brutal to his political enemies is that he commanded the army. The economic reforms came after the coup d'etat and suppression of the

What allowed him to be so brutal to his political enemies is that he commanded the army. The economic reforms came after the coup d'etat and suppression of the opposition not before. And they were far from smooth sailing: ironically Friedman coined the idea of a "Miracle of Chile" in an article at the beginning of 1982, shortly before Chile was plunged into a deep recession. Either way, the comment further upthread ranting about Keynes was weird considering that Keynesianism really didn't involve shooting people, and whilst the ideologically opposed Chicago School policy didn't either, it was famously most faithfully implemented by a military junta Friedman himself had plenty of time for.