The well-spoken, and oft-spoken-of economist Dr. Milton Friedman passed away on November 16, 2006.

He will be badly missed by libertarians, conservatives, and even leftists, who no doubt disagreed with him, but did not find him personally disagreeable.

Dr. Friedman began his economics career as a Keynesian, in favor of many of the New Deal policies he woud later recognize as destructive. As a student at the University of Chicago, he studied under such infuential figures as Frank Knight. He later was to teach at U of Chicago, where he cemented a branch of economics and teaching of it called Monetarism, and the Chicago School, respectively.

It was Friedman whose ideas brought the Federal Reserve into line with the idea that "full employment", as Keynes called it, could not be achieved through loose monetary policy. Instead, Friedman recognized, loose monetary policy led to inflation - a reduction in the relative buying power of each person's earned wages, reflected in higher prices for goods and services.

In 1976, Dr. Friedman was awared the Nobel Prize in Economics, and his ideas led to the reigning-in of the Fed during the Reagan Admministration. That, coupled with lower taxes, led to greater REAL growth and productivity in the US, a trend that has been sustained for nearly every quarter since Reagan's policies took effect.

His book "Free to Choose" led many to the freedom philosophy, and, although he was in slight disagreement about issues like vouchers for public school, his life is one marked by great support for, and the spreading of, freedom.

Milton Friedman is appropriately known as a legend in not only economic history, but American history. He influenced millions, and will continue to do so.