Arnold S. Trebach

An interesting libertarian take on the Drug War; anti-Prohibition for reasons of personal liberty. Szasz´s "Therapeutic State" argument is more convincing than Milton´s Free Market foundation. Neither of them say anything too groundbreaking, and the material is definitely dated as they´re using statistics from the 70s and 80s primarily. Friedman tended to bother me with his ideology, and his inclination to making very broad generalizations with no supporting evidence (i.e. "There´s a general rule in government and bureacratic enterprises: the more you put in, the less you get out." -- "Largely as a result of greater gov´t involvement, the cost of a day spent in the hospital . . . was twenty-six times as high in 1989 . . . as it was in 1946." Umm, exactly how did the one cause the other there?). There´s also the part where he mildly justifies Pinochet´s murderous regime because he eventually permitted a democratic election that ended the military junta.… (más)