Why did Milton Friedman hate Chile?

It appears Mr. Libertarian Economist persuaded Pinochet-era Chilean leaders to relax previously more stringent building codes.

Why? Because his libertarian soul hated government-imposed building codes as a regulation.

Result? Per Chileans on the ground, buildings from the 1950s and '60s have, in many cases, held up better than those from the 1970s and '80s. Multiple, documentary links off the link above.

That includes this interview with the Minneapolis Fed, where he said:

Similarly, building codes impose costs that you might not privately want to engage in, wage and hour laws—and on and on.

So, Wall Street Journal, et al, stop putting him on a pedestal. Even worse, non-ideological MSM, stop buying the Journal line.

Didn't big banks make the equal of gas guzzlers?

And, is not President-elect Obama hiring the equivalent of GM CEO Rick Wagoner in having Larry Summers as his top economic advisor inside the White House and Robert Rubin the top one outside?

That's just a few of the ways I extended the analogy of Michael Hudson in how the proposed auto bailout "is unfairly punitive.

That said, I disagree with Hudson's angle that we ought to be lenient to the auto industry.

Instead, I note that Henry Paulson is dispomaniacally desperate for Round 2 of TARP bailout money, to the degree that he'd probably service Nancy Pelosi on the Speaker's office desk.

So, why is NOBODY amongst House Dems, after perfunctory hand-wringing over the oversight report, talking about getting as tough with the Big Banks as with the Big Three?

And, as Hudson charges, is Obama too much under the influence not only of Summers/Rubin, but also his professorial alma mater, the University of Chicago, home of Milton Friedman and monetarist fiscal policy?

The question is academic until next January and the 111th Congress; an automakers’ bailout this year is as dead as Fred Thompson’s presidential dreams.