Milton Friedman

- Nobel Prize-winning U. of Chicago economist!

- Believed government regulations are bad, bad, bad!

- Believed the government should manage the economy using monetary policy -- by managing the money supply -- rather than by using Keynesian government-spending programs!

- Provided philosophical justification for rampant greed -- and for policies that led to the dot-com bubble, Enron and the related accounting scandals, investment bank conflict-of-interest scandals, the California electricity market crisis, the housing bubble, and the subprime-mortgage boom!

- Inspired Ronald Reagan, Margaret Thatcher, and Augusto Pinochet!

- Honored in 2002 for his "towering intellect" by George W. Bush -- certainly a qualified judge!

- Between 1980 and 2008, while Uncle Miltie's economic philosophy was in ascendance, the gap between rich and poor grew at an astounding rate!

- Influenced Icelandic leaders to get the government out of business and the financial markets, leading to the bankruptcy of that country in 2008!

- Died in 2006, and so never got the chance to see the global economic meltdown caused by the policies he espoused -- or the Keynesian policy response!

- Idiot!