Friedman and Sowell on Equality

the hoody menu in school in the South of England is also a place of privilege musically talented children from all over the world compete for a chance to come here to study you [Music] much of the moral fervor behind the drive for equality comes from the widespread belief that it is not fair that some children should have a great advantage over others simply because they happen to have wealthy parents of course it's not fair but is there any distinction between the inheritance of property and the inheritance of what at first sight looks very different these youngsters have inherited wealth not in the form of bonds or stocks but in the form of talent that 15 year old is an accomplished cellist his father is the distinguished violinist it's no accident that most of the children at this school come from musical families the inheritance of talents is no different from an ethical point of view from the inheritance of other forms of property of bonds of stocks of houses or a factories yet many people resent the one but not the other [Music] or look at the same issues from the point of view of the parent if you want to give your child a special chance there are different ways you can do it you can buy them an education in education that will give him skills enabling him to earn a higher income or you can buy him a business or you can leave him property the income from which will enable him to live better is there any ethical difference between these three ways of using your property or again if the state leaves you any money to spend it over and above taxes should you be permitted to spend it on riotous living but not permitted to leave it to your children the ethical issues involved are subtle and complex they are not to be resolved by resort to such simplistic formulas as fair shares for all indeed if you took that seriously it's the youngsters with less musical skill not those ones more who should be sent to this school in order to compensate for their inherited disadvantage yes now but the question is those processes may indeed reduce freedom greatly I would go beyond the question of equality and put it more generally that any process to ascribe any status to any group of people equality inferiority superiority must necessarily reduce freedom because whatever the government wishes to ascribe to any group whatever whatever place to use the phrase that was very common in the South that blacks should have their place whatever place the government is going to assign the people that place will not coincide weight that place will not coincide either what all those people are doing or with how others perceive all those people because there's too much diversity among human beings to maintain any system of ascribed status from the top is going to mean it reducing people's freedom across the spectrum that's the point people have an ascribed status it isn't as if government by its intervention creates it people are born into this world in the given sector of a society and many many of them are born at the bottom of the society the argument for about equality of results was an argument that was linked to equality of opportunity people recognized that unless there was a degree of equality in a degree there enough food enough security access to education unless these things were available to all children that equality of opportunity was merely a mockery that's why equality of results became an issue and it became an issue for black people in the United States and they expressed their concern whatever you express oh damn it look no I did not then replied they expressed their will by their extraordinary participation in a protest movement that began in the late 1950s and didn't tell any lovers intellectuals were not in that protest movement when I saw what you were in that prowess you wanted answer I finished good black people have never supported for example affirmative action quotas anything of that sort wherever polls have been taking a black opinion on such matters or should people be paid equally or should it be this or that black people have never taken a position that you describe so it is not a question of what black people chose to do it's what you you choose to put in the mouths of black people it's what you choose just to project it is not what any black people have ever said anywhere that you can put your finger on to put into the mouths of the pollsters as far as I can see I've got them both a post on the black community like most people I have never seen a pollster if you look at the leadership you [Applause] you

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Keywords: Yehudi, Menuhin, Capitalism, Capitalist, Socialism, Socialist, Marx, Marxist, Marxism, Fabian, Fabianism, Mercantilist, Mercantilism, Democracy, Democratic, Liberal, liberalism, Libertarian, Libertarianism, Keynes, Keynesian, Keynesianism, Monetarism, Monetarist, Professor, Chicago, Economy, Economics, Economist, Free, to, Choose, Nobel, Prize, Laissez-faire, Invisible, Hand, Adam, Smith, Philosophy, Market, Tariff, Protectionist, Great, Depression, Government, Spending, Thomas, Sowell, Milton, Friedman

Id: WJBeuR0xEP8

Length: 5min 43sec (343 seconds)

Published: Sun Jun 14 2009