It’s nice to see Milton Friedman’s influence in day-to-day affairs. Two emails, from yesterday and today:

Subject Government and Culture
Jonah,
Milton Friedman appreciated your point. A Swede once boasted to him that “We have no poverty in Sweden.” Friedman said “That’s very interesting. In America we have no poverty among Swedes either.”

And:

Jonah,
Bartlett annoys me but on this issue, he is indeed
correct. Neither President Reagan nor the original
supply siders claimed that tax cuts would pay for
themselves. The key point President Reagan made
repeatedly was for tax cuts to get government off the
backs of the wage earners.
I think it’s important to remember something Milton
Friedman taught us. He once said, “If cutting taxes
raises government revenues, then you haven’t cut taxes
enough.” For Dr. Friedman, lower not higher
government revenues should be the goal.
I wish even one politician would emphasize that part
of supply side economics instead!