VOA慢速英语20061201a

ECONOMICS REPORT - Milton Friedman Saw Free Markets as a Tool for 'Human Freedom'By Mario Ritter

Broadcast: Friday, December 01, 2006

This is the VOA Special English Economics Report.


Milton Friedman in 1977, a year after he won the Nobel Prize in economic sciences

Economists² rarely shape policy to the extent that Milton Friedman did.

He died on November sixteenth in San Francisco, California, at the age of ninety-four.

Milton Friedman is best known for his work on the idea that governments can slow inflation by shrinking the money supply. He expanded on this theory, known as monetarism, by studying years of American monetary³ policy.

He argued against the advice of John Maynard Keynes. The British economist¹ was a major influence from the nineteen thirties to the sixties. His answer to recession and high unemployment was government spending on public works, and printing more money to pay for it.

This increase in the money supply fed inflation. But policymakers at that time generally accepted that job growth meant high inflation rates.

Milton Friedman showed that inflation hurt job growth. He argued that governments should control the money supply to keep prices from rising, or falling, too much. But he thought they should not intervene in markets or job creation.

His ideas in the nineteen fifties and sixties were not popular at the time. But in the early seventies the United States had both high inflation and high unemployment. Policymakers started to listen. He won a Nobel Prize in economics in nineteen seventy-six.

His advice to cut taxes and control inflation influenced the policies of President Ronald Reagan and British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher⁴. He brought his ideas to the public by writing for magazines like Newsweek and appearing on television.

But some critics blame his strong support of tax cuts for increased budget deficits⁵ in the United States. And he was criticized for dealing⁶ with the military government of Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet. That government overthrew⁷ a democratically elected president in nineteen seventy-three. But, as Milton Friedman noted⁸, it was also willing to make economic reforms.

Today, changes in financial markets have made it much harder to control money supplies the way he advised. But his belief in small government and free markets is still popular with economic conservatives and libertarians.

He believed deeply in individual choice. Last year, he told public television's Charlie Rose that he wanted to be remembered as someone who helped increase human freedom.

Survivors⁹ include his wife, Rose, an economist with whom he wrote many of his books.

And that's the VOA Special English Economics Report, written by Mario Ritter. I'm Bob Doughty¹⁰.

1 economist   

n.经济学家，经济专家，节俭的人

参考例句：

• He cast a professional economist's eyes on the problem.他以经济学行家的眼光审视这个问题。
• He's an economist who thinks he knows all the answers.他是个经济学家，自以为什么都懂。

2 economists   

n.经济学家，经济专家( economist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The sudden rise in share prices has confounded economists. 股价的突然上涨使经济学家大惑不解。
• Foreign bankers and economists cautiously welcomed the minister's initiative. 外国银行家和经济学家对部长的倡议反应谨慎。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 monetary   

adj.货币的，钱的；通货的；金融的；财政的

参考例句：

• The monetary system of some countries used to be based on gold.过去有些国家的货币制度是金本位制的。
• Education in the wilderness is not a matter of monetary means.荒凉地区的教育不是钱财问题。

4 thatcher   

n.茅屋匠

参考例句：

• Tom Sawyer was in the skiff that bore Judge Thatcher. 汤姆 - 索亚和撒切尔法官同乘一条小艇。 来自英汉文学 - 汤姆历险
• Mrs. Thatcher was almost crazed; and Aunt Polly, also. 撒切尔夫人几乎神经失常，还有波莉姨妈也是。 来自英汉文学 - 汤姆历险

5 deficits   

n.不足额( deficit的名词复数 )；赤字；亏空；亏损

参考例句：

• The Ministry of Finance consistently overestimated its budget deficits. 财政部一贯高估预算赤字。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Many of the world's farmers are also incurring economic deficits. 世界上许多农民还在遭受经济上的亏损。 来自辞典例句

6 dealing   

n.经商方法，待人态度

参考例句：

• This store has an excellent reputation for fair dealing.该商店因买卖公道而享有极高的声誉。
• His fair dealing earned our confidence.他的诚实的行为获得我们的信任。

7 overthrew   

overthrow的过去式

参考例句：

• The people finally rose up and overthrew the reactionary regime. 人们终于起来把反动的政权推翻了。
• They overthrew their King. 他们推翻了国王。

8 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

9 survivors   

幸存者，残存者，生还者( survivor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The survivors were adrift in a lifeboat for six days. 幸存者在救生艇上漂流了六天。
• survivors clinging to a raft 紧紧抓住救生筏的幸存者

10 doughty   

adj.勇猛的，坚强的

参考例句：

• Most of successful men have the characteristics of contumacy and doughty.绝大多数成功人士都有共同的特质：脾气倔强，性格刚强。
• The doughty old man battled his illness with fierce determination.坚强的老人用巨大毅力与疾病作斗争。