Considering the Chicago School depends on completely fictional “rational actors”, yes, of COURSE it’s bullshit. It’s based directly on something that never existed! You don’t need to go looking for subtler reasons =p.
How the Chicago School's extremist ideology destroyed the American economy with unchecked monopolies
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@Medievalist, if I remember correctly, the David Friedman you want (Milton/Rose Friedman fils) was on the now defunct Cypherpunks list. And, again if my memory is not failing and please correct me if I’m wrong, he was far beyond mom and dad’s Chicago ideology and was a full blown anarcho-capitalist.
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They have come a long way:
“Turned loose with inordinate powers, corporations have vastly over-organized most industries.” --Henry Simons
“[T]here can be little doubt that if we continue on the path we have been treading, it will lead us to totalitarianism. This movement is, of course, deliberately planned mainly by the capitalist organisers of monopolies.” --Friedrich Hayek
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This doesn’t mention ALEC - the American Legislative Exchange Council - the bill mill that writes the bills for Republicans (who are almost all members) - laws against unions, womens rights, tenant rights, voting, etc. Here in WI we have Act 10, Voter ID, gerrymandering and more, written by ALEC. When Act 10 was being shoved through in 2011, after Scott Walker was elected, a UW professor, William Cronon, blogged about ALEC as the place where Act 10 and other bills were written. WI Republicans tried to get him fired, but couldn’t. Now they might be able to, since Walker has appointed all but 2 of the Regents. ALEC was started by former members of the John Birch Society - Fred Koch, Paul Weyrich and others - to push their ideas through.
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He used to frequent alt.callahans as well. Disingenuous turd living on his father’s privilege.
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My name is similarly common. People frequently email me looking for the other ones.
Apologies for the shout out, and thanks for the clarification!
I know him socially because we have shared interests in medieval history, and I run into him every couple of years. I don’t generally talk modern economics with him, because it would be inappropriate to the context and rude to the other people present, but I do have the impression you are correct. Which is why I was sort of inviting him to a donnybrook here 
but I got the wrong Friedman.
@wanderfound, although I can see some justice in your description, it’s hard to imagine how he could avoid living on his father’s privilege, and he comes across as a pretty even-handed and fair-minded guy in meatspace. I have enjoyed talking to him about the Crusades and similar topics. He’s a fine craftsman and was a superb swordsman back when we were both young (and dinosaurs roamed the earth).
I’m very much in disagreement with Friedman pere’s economic theory because, as @Bozobub pointed out, rational economic actors just don’t seem to exist outside that theory.
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I think it was Eduardo Galeano who summarized it as ‘torturing people so that prices could be free’…
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I think I’ll reread some “Borders is getting too powerful!” rants from 1999.
I’ll follow that by seeing if Internet Explorer still works.
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Good thing that Borders’ sinister hegemony was broken by a vibrant competitive marketplace; rather than Amazon, right?
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Damn it, now I have to go look up what the tax reforms in Upper Silesia were, and what role they played in the larger Weimar Republic.
You evil bastard, my morning is now shot.
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