Friedman In The News

We have been talking extensively about what Friedman thinks the government's role should be within the business world, or the economy as a whole. We concluded that Friedman believes that the goverment should simply serve the economy, this in terms of simply serving as an "umpire", to ensure that the rules are being followed and contracts are being upheld; therefore, he believes that the government should not serve any other purpose besides simply "overlooking" the business to ensure they are "playing by the rules". Freidman also mentions that we need to have economic freedom and political freedom to be truly "free". I came across an article on CNSNews.com, written on September 2, 2009 by Penny Starr, titled "Childhood Obesity Report Calls For Government Regulations to Limit Access to "Unhealthy" Restaurant Chains", which raises an interesting application of Friedman's ideas on government interferance in the business world.
The article speaks about a recent report released about childhood obesity, and how the government wants to come up with strategies to combat what they call an "epidemic of childhood obesity". The article mentions that the government should take steps towards combating this growing problem, and among the steps being proposed is "enacting zoning and land-use regulations that would "restrict fast food establishments near school grounds and public playgrounds" (Starr). This, I would argue, would infuriate Friedman because the government would be restricting our freedom on two levels. One would be that they will be limiting the public's freedom to spend their money, or in other words their economic resources, on what they want to buy, which makes us not free. Also, this would be coercing within the market, as Friedman would say, because they are forcing one to eat something other than what one might want. Yes, it is evident that it would be for a better cause, this being health, but Friedman would definitely not agree with the government prohibiting the fast food restaurants from establishing their businesses where they please. I think that this article is a clear example of what Friedman would say should not be the role of goverment within the economy.