“If you put the federal government in charge of the Sahara Desert, in five years there would be a shortage of sand.” – Milton Friedman

Milton Friedman — economist, author, presidential advisor and teacher — died this week (Nov. 16) in 2006, having lived a truly consequential life.  Honored with a Nobel Prize in economic sciences, this professor at the University of Chicago was, as The Economist once put it, “the most influential economist of the second half of the 20th Century … and possibly all of it.”

He was also an unabashed believer in capitalism and the free-market economic system, and an unceasing critic of government interference not only in the economy, but also in people’s lives.  And his criticisms were often as memorable as they were apt.  Once, while visiting a government-run building project in Asia, he asked his guide why the workers were using shovels and wheelbarrows instead of bulldozers and trucks.  “It creates more jobs,” his guide replied.  “Then why not use spoons?” Friedman asked.

Friedman’s faith in private enterprise earned him many detractors, who accused him of favoring the rich over the poor.  To which Friedman replied that alleviating the suffering of the poor was among his highest priorities.  “There has never been a more effective machine for the elimination of poverty than the free-enterprise system and free market,” he once said.  In other words, reduce the government’s role in the economy and in our lives, and watch how many more people prosper.  The welfare state, Friedman complained, “is a machine for producing poor people.”

Friedman also firmly believed in providing the poor a good education, as opposed to a government-monopoly education.  As early as the mid-1950s Friedman was writing about the failure of public schools to properly prepare America’s poorest children to succeed in an increasingly competitive world.  Thus he was among the first to propose a school voucher system that would allow disadvantaged children access to the same quality private-school education that was afforded the more fortunate.

Friedman’s teachings influenced not only his students, but also readers of his best-selling book, Free to Choose, which became a popular television series.  He also counseled many world leaders, including Ronald Reagan, who was guided by Friedman in his successful efforts to tame the runaway inflation of the late 1970s without unduly harming the economy.

Speaking of keeping government out of people’s lives, Friedman once said that his proudest public accomplishment was helping end conscription — the forced drafting of young men into the army — which prompted another of his memorable rejoinders.  When General William Westmoreland defended conscription by saying he didn’t want to command “an army of mercenaries,” Friedman replied, “You would rather command an army of slaves?”

What millions of Americans (including me) have dreamed of — staring at your bathroom mirror when suddenly you’re hit with a brilliant idea destined to make you rich — actually happened to the man who died this week (July 9) in 1932.  While standing before his mirror shaving one day, King Camp Gillette, then a traveling salesman for a bottle-cap company, decided that what the world really needed was a razor blade that did not require constant professional “stropping” (re-sharpening) but rather could be used until it was dull and then tossed away.  Gillette thought that if he sold the razor at a reasonable price his profits would come from the subsequent sale of millions of disposable blades.

Yet if the idea was brilliant, the execution posed a challenge because at the time (the late 1800s) thin, sharp steel was nearly impossible to produce cheaply enough to turn into a profitable blade.  It was not until Gillette met an inventor named William Nickerson that the theory behind a disposable blade became reality. Nickerson, a brilliant engineer, finally developed a blade with a sharp edge that would fit in a special razor holder — the precursor of today’s disposable razors. As a result, in 1901 Gillette and Nickerson formed the Gillette Safety Razor Company.

Ironically, another challenge for Gillette was convincing Americans that it was all right to throw away their blades.  In the early 1900s (as throughout most of their history) Americans were prone to save everything they bought, and if they couldn’t continue to use it for its original purpose, they would find another use for it.  To that end, many local barbers, fearing the loss of their shaving business to Gillette’s disposable blade, even offered re-sharpening services for Gillette’s original razor, which would have threatened his expected profits on the sale of new blades.

Ultimately, however, Gillette’s throwaway razors began selling, and after the U.S. government issued his razors to the entire armed services during World War I, resulting in the sale of some 3.5 million razors and 35 million blades by war’s end, Gillette had finally become the millionaire he dreamed of while staring at his bathroom mirror so many years before.

Continue reading →