Douglas Carswell has a nice quote from Milton Friedman:

The important thing is to establish a climate of opinion which will make .. the wrong people do the right thing.

By this standard, however, Friedman and his followers have failed in some respects. My chart shows one.It shows that there has recently been a close correlation between inflation expectations and the S&P 500, with higher inflation expectations associated with higher share prices. This suggests that the stock market disagrees with Friedman. He thought the optimal inflation rate was slightly negative. Stock markets clearly think it's positive. They - rightly or wrongly - don't want sound money.

This is not the only way in which business is anti-Friedmanite. Tim points out, as I have, that businessmen believe in central planning; it is, after all, what they do. And you'll not find many enthusiasts for a minimal state on the boards of Capita or BAe Systems.

I don't say this merely to remind you that there's a big difference between pro-market policies and pro-business ones. I've often complained that there's no constituency to press for sensible leftist policies. But there's no constituency to press for Friedmanite ones either.