"... not to defend Friedman who is among the shallowest of the 'deep' thinkers out there - but he's a macro guy, likes the broad, attention getting stroke - and therefore misses a lot - as in a business revolution grafted onto a retrograde political culture can mutate into something ugly, which is exactly what happened in Ireland - but that does not therefore mean the free market ideals motivating the Celtic tiger were in and of themselves 'bad' or 'wrong' - of course Mr Ricks as a socialist thinks they were and that explains this post - but Friedman makes the same mistake when he rhapsodizes about China: the 'capitalist' miracle there suits his book selling talking points and so he tends to go vague or 'hyper macro' when discussing the attending retrograde political and social cultures that, as in Ireland, are like to cause the 'miracle' to morph eventually into something grotesque if not reformed as well.
The telling quote about Ireland came from an Irish business man who said: it's an indication of how horrible things were before 'the revolution' that as bad as things look now we're still better off for the change. I remember visiting Dublin as a student in the 80's and being shocked by the dozens of dirty faced kids lining O'Connell bridge begging money from 'rich' foreigners - so I'm willing to bet that somewhat counter intuitive declaration is in many ways true..."
