MILTON FRIEDMAN, R.I.P.

Milton Friedman, world renowned economist and staunch advocate of the free market, died yesterday at the age of 94.  Although I got my first introduction to capitalism as something other than a plutocracy exploiting the downtrodden from Ayn Rand in the late '70s, I acquired a rigorous understanding of economics, hence why capitalism is what happens when people can freely exchange goods and services, from Friedman.  That started with the book he wrote in 1980 with his wife Rose, Free to Choose.  I even mastered his Monetary History of the United States to obtain a sound concept of money, inflation, deflation, and the folly of central banking.  Indeed, my long years in business have only confirmed Friedman's monetarist theory.  I learned a great deal from the man.  At the moment of passing, it is appropriate that I acknowledge my debt to him.