Is Milton Friedman Alive, Forgotten, or Irrelevant?

One of the most pro-business and pro-profit thinkers of all time was Milton Friedman. In his seminal 1970 article “The Social Responsibility of Business is to Increase its Profit” (New York Times Magazine, September 23, 1970), Friedman defends his article title. In my mind, he does it convincingly and timelessly. Today, we need profit to fund the growing needs of society. One might even argue we need it more due to the at times questionable positions of those in power. If that is true, then why do those in power want to make it so difficult to make profit to pay the taxes they so strongly desire, since taxes are paid only out of profit? You could argue that payroll taxes are not paid out of profit but what happens when a company is not profitable? It either cuts down on payroll or it cuts it out, or it goes out of business. In all three, tax collections are less.

Here is a recent article on business ethics today. We can collect comments here on this site or on this other site which is also about sales and business ethics.