You had a flood of immigrants, millions of them, coming to this country. What brought them here? It was the hope for a better life for them and their children. And, in the main, they succeeded. It is hard to find any century in history, in which so large a number of people experience so great an improvement in the conditions of their life, in the opportunities open to them, as in the period of the 19th and early 20th century.
Interpretation
The quote highlights the transformative journey of millions of immigrants seeking a better life, emphasizing their success in achieving improved living conditions.
Milton Friedman reflects on the historical movement of immigrants to America, underscoring that their motivation was largely driven by a desire for a better future for themselves and their families. He points out that the period from the 19th to the early 20th century was remarkable for the significant improvements in living conditions and opportunities for a vast number of people, marking an exceptional era of progress in human experience.
In practice
In a speech about the contributions of immigrants to society.
The economic miracle that has been the United States was not produced by socialized enterprises, by government-unon-industry cartels or by centralized economic planning. It was produced by private enterprises in a profit-and-loss system. And losses were at least as important in weeding out failures, as profits in fostering successes. Let government succor failures, and we shall be headed for stagnation and decline.
Universities exist to transmit knowledge and understanding of ideas and values to students not to provide entertainment for spectators or employment for athletes.
There is no place for government to prohibit consumers from buying products the effect of which will be to harm themselves.
There is one and only one social responsibility of business - to use it resources and engage in activities designed to increase its profits so long as it stays within the rules of the game, which is to say, engages in open and free competition without deception or fraud.
The great danger to the consumer is the monopoly -whether private or governmental. His most effective protection is free competition at home and free trade throughout the world. The consumer is protected from being exploited by one seller by the existence of another seller from whom he can buy and who is eager to sell to him. Alternative sources of supply protect the consumer far more effectively than all the Ralph Naders of the world.
The strongest argument for free enterprise is that it prevents anybody from having too much power. Whether that person is a government official, a trade union official, or a business executive. If forces them to put up or shut up. They either have to deliver the goods, produce something that people are willing to pay for, are willing to buy, or else they have to go into a different business.
They'll be days like this" my momma said. _x000D_ When you open your hands to catch, and wind up with only blisters and bruises. _x000D_ When you try to step out of the phone booth and try to fly , and the very people you want to save, are the ones standing on your cape. _x000D_ When your boots will fill with rain, and you'll be up to your knees with disappointment _x000D_ And those are the very days you have all the more reason to say "Thank you".
That was the worst part about having cancer, sometimes: The physical evidence of disease separates you from other people.
She is a water bug on the surface of life.
The worst thing in the world is to try to sleep and not to.
pools of blood are not recreational even lifeguards drown when the undertow breaks bread with the underbelly demons disguised as sharks have not put enough thought into their costumes a wiseman stays ashore when pointed fins read like italian subtitles the end is near (...) the beginning
What matters in this life is more than winning for ourselves. What really matters is helping others win too. Even if it means slowing down and changing our course now and then.
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