THERE’S NO SUCH THING AS FREE LUNCH
Recently, a world-renowned American-Jewish economist Milton Friedman passed away at the age of 94.
Most people may not know who Mr Friedman is (frankly i never knew this man well too).But most of us knew this well-known line: ‘There’s no such thing as free lunch’
That was Friedman’s gift for the world. Through this short sentence, he tries to convey an important concept, a concept so fundamental in modern economy study. This concept renewed the Western’s conservative economic landscape. Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan are just one of many Western leaders who adopted his works, thus, his works are said to be the generator of the 1980-s Western economic boom.
Milton Friedman lays emphasis on the importance of governments to reduce its influence on the free market. Leaders are not supposed to provide more incentives just to seduce the hearts of its people, as this could lead to the increase of social burden. Meantime, the people will be more dependant, bringing to the rise of social greed of society as a whole.
In other words, if the government wishes to aid its people, she should let them walk by their own, not by carrying them all along the way.
This economy concept could be well connected to the recently held UMNO General Assembly. (well, if I don’t connect it to our dear UMNO, its just not me….)
When a group of people, (I don’t call them delegates, or leaders, coz I think they are NOT QUALIFIED TO REPRESENT THE PEACE-LOVING MALAY COMMUNITY), keep on shouting ‘I want this’, ‘I want that’, ‘I want theirs’…….did they realize the fact that ‘there’s no such thing as free lunch’?
More incentives, more positions, more building contracts, more shares, more power, more university places, more loans, more Zakaria…..wow…how wonderful is that…as long as we are fierce enough, we shout loud enough, we insult them more enough, we hold the keris high enough, we will get everything we want…yeah, how great is that…
BUT, this country, my dear friends, is not a Heaven. Even in Heaven, I seriously doubt that God will provide you free lunch without you working for it…
more incentives, and this government will be poorer…
more shares, and more money will go to foreign hands…
more university places, and there will be more unemployed graduates..
more loans, and there will be more unpaid loans…
With more Zakaria, and there will be more beautiful mansions, and also more people begging for food outside its door…
An economy policy geared towards political gains and to get more votes, an economy policy which feeds our society with free lunches every single day. I don’t see why this country is not paying a huge price for it.
Dear UMNO leaders, you can take away all the rights of Chinese and Indians, coz we all know that Chinese and Indians are just powerless to say anything. Haiz, just take it…its fine with me..
BUT PLEASE, PLEASE, don’t take away my children’s future, and your children’s future…
The words of Milton Friedman will only be a reminder for us….an ignored reminder….
Rest in Peace Sir….
(Translated and Adapted from the articles of Cheng Ting Xian, my most respected local political commentator)
p/s: dear friends, thanks but I don’t think I am qualified to be a politician, ever….well, we always say that politicians are brainless and corrupted (just look at our country man..haha)…I love my brain so much and I think I still have some ethics in my mind, so I don’t think politic will be my career path..hehe
Dear Everyone, your comments, critics, corrections, judgments, condemnations, hate mails, messages with virus etc are most welcomed.
To quote our dear PAK LAH: ‘No one is perfect! ‘
November 24th, 2006 at 2:34 am
“p/s: dear friends, thanks but I don’t think I am qualified to be a politician, ever….well, we always say that politicians are brainless and corrupted (just look at our country man..haha)…I love my brain so much and I think I still have some ethics in my mind, so I don’t think politic will be my career path..hehe”
quote dat from u :-). well, my very dear pc wan im not suggesting dat u become like them (as in becoming brainless or uncivilised) BUT become an influence (as in making others see u n follow u to be brainy n ethical..LOL)
hm.. another thing, HEAVEN is totally incomparable.We do have free lunch there u know why?Coz HEAVEN has everything and what is there to work?See my point?Besdies,when u were a baby,u took ur parent’s free lunch.rite?they din ask for anything in return nor can u do anything for them (at dat age).
i wud say, the quote of “no free lunch” was meant for the economic world.the world with only jealousy and enviousness.
because love is about giving and serving.and because ur parents love u,u had their free lunch.
December 1st, 2006 at 11:59 pm
I always enjoy reading your blogs. Whenever we raise up our voice against racism, we will soon find out with amazement we are the racists ourselves. They(you know who I’m talking about) always amuse us by giving lame excuses and blame us as a national culprit. Who are the culprits anyway? Are the law-abiding and hardworking malaysia chinese who pay taxes willingly without much grudges the culprits? You have the answer. This is the real world. If you can’t face and tackle the challenges, you can’t survive. If you choose to cow yourself and don’t want to face the globalisation, it’s your pro blem. If tongkak is not enough to support you, wheelchair might serve you better, perhaps you can ask for it from the USA and China in future when globalisation comes true.
December 21st, 2006 at 9:11 pm
Did you know that Mahatir was known as anti-semitist? I remember reading some part of his speech regarding jews in an OIC meeting. The anti-semitic part was highlighted out.
December 27th, 2008 at 5:14 pm
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