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“While traveling by car during one of his many overseas travels, Professor Milton Friedman spotted scores of road builders moving earth with shovels instead of
by treeman79 3y ago
“While traveling by car during one of his many overseas travels, Professor Milton Friedman spotted scores of road builders moving earth with shovels instead of modern machinery. When he asked why powerful equipment wasn’t used instead of so many laborers, his host told him it was to keep employment high in the construction industry. If they used tractors or modern road building equipment, fewer people would have jobs was his host’s logic.”
“Then instead of shovels, why don’t you give them spoons and create even more jobs?” Friedman inquired.
- amanaplanacanal 3y agoUsually these kinds of regulations are about keeping existing jobs rather than creating new jobs. I certainly understand the impulse, even when misguided, to slow down the rate of “progress”. There are always winners and losers, even if society as a whole would be better off in the long run.
- no_wizard 3y agoThere is a pretty good chance this quote is inappropriately attributed to Milton Friedman though if he did say anything like this, it was likely about a Canal rather than building roads[0] Feels like something he would say though, that's for sure. The ethos is right. [0]: https://quoteinvestigator.com/2011/10/10/spoons-shovels/ https://quoteinvestigator.com/2011/10/10/spoons-shovels/