Barking Cats, Milton Friedman’s classic 1973 short essay

On an annual basis one should consider re-reading/reviewing Milton Friedman’s classic 1973 essay Barking Cats. This very short essay speaks volumes. It also identifies a constant/reoccurring phenomena that one can identify on nearly a daily basis.

The essay points out that broken economic models are many, many times perpetuated rather than removed. That is, “reformers” merely put forth notional propositions that if the broken economic model would merely produce X or Y results, results that are results the reformer desires [painting the world in one’s own self-image] then the broken model is magically fixed. In other words, the broken economic model is not broken if the broken model produces certain and particular results the reformer desires.

"What would you think of someone who said, " I would like to have a cat, provided it barked"? - Milton Friedman

Below is a link to the very short and very insightful Friedman essay:

http://www.johnlatour.com/barking_cats.htm