A great tribute to Milton Friedman from Brad Delong…  a nice summary description of the man that Dave Wittman and I used to refer to as “Uncle Milty”:

His world-view began with a bedrock faith in people, in their ability to make judgments for themselves, and thus an imperative to maximize individual freedom. On top of that was layered a deep faith and conviction that free markets were almost always the best and most magical way of coordinating every conceivable task. On top of that was layered a powerful conviction that a look at the empirical facts–a marking-to-market of your beliefs to reality–would generate the right conclusions. And on top of that was layered a fear and suspicion of government as an easily-captured tool for the enrichment of cynical and selfish interests that sought to grab whatever they could. Suffusing all was a faith in the power of argument and the utility of reason. He was an optimist: people could be taught the truths of economics, and if they were properly taught then institutions could be built to protect all against the corruption and overreach of the government.

Missy and I made it to the Dayton Art Institute this past weekend to catch the special exhibit of artist/illustrator Norman Rockwell.  We had a special tour hosted by a docent who walked us through the exhibit and provided us with artistic insights (e.g., Norman liked to use a variety of signatures on his art work).  Missy said she really enjoyed the tour…