Milton Friedman obit by Robert Reich [audio 10min @1:28]

His ideas were embraced by governments, and implemented by central banks. And he was one of those rare economic theorists who was able to take arcane ideas and translate them into popular language. Nobel-Prize-winning American economist Milton Friedman died earlier today. He was 94 years old. Friedman's ideas influenced the likes of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney, and former U.S. President Ronald Reagan. At its core, his style of economics held that the less the government interfered with the workings of the free market, the better off everyone would be. In 1977, just a year after his work had earned him the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Science, Friedman accepted an invitation to be Israel's advisor on economic affairs. Israel's then-ruling Likud party recruited him to guide the country into a free-market system. For the record, here is part of a conversation between Milton Friedman and Barbara Frum on "As it Happens" from May of 1977. Then follows an appreciation by Robert Reich, former Secretary of Labour in the Clinton Administration. Reich, a professor of public policy at the University of California at Berkeley, respected Milton Friedman, but didn't agree with all his economic philosophies.