Summary Of Robin Hood Myth By Friedman

Friedman begins by explaining that his lecture is about myths commonly held by the public and the reality of these situations. First, he describes how there has been a shift in the last fifty years from believing in personal responsibility with the government as more of an overseer to believing in social responsibility with government as a big brother. He believes that these shifts have occurred because of myths about past experiences. Friedman’s goal is to dispel five major myths. The first myth is a robber baron myth. People believe that the 19th century was a time of individualism where the lower classes were being oppressed and there was widespread misery for farmers. Friedman declares that the reality of the situation is that there has almost …show more content…
Friedman also points out that the government prefers to raise taxes on businesses. Social security tax is put half on the employer and half on the employee. Friedman states that this is not true because employers consider the social security tax when they calculate their wage cost. The end result is that the employers portion is instead being paid by the employee. For this reason, Friedman is in favor of abolishing the tax on corporations. To address that it is not free to print money Friedman asserts that more money causes prices to go up and therefore this is just another form of taxation. The final myth is the Robin Hood myth that the government benefits the poor at the cost of the rich. In reality, it is the middle class that is most politically effective and benefits the most from government programsHe uses the real-world example of state funded education. Attendees of these schools are middle class, yet schools are advertised as being for all people and everyone pays the taxes that fund these schools. Friedman also goes back to social security. The lower classes will pay social taxes longer and get less benefit then those people in the middle classes because the