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Milton Friedman formerly taught economics at the University of Chicago, and is regarded as one of the most influential proponents of neo-liberal market economics.

Friedman argued that the only "corporate social responsibility" is for a corporation "to use its resources and engage in activities designed to increase its profits" without deception or fraud. Friedman argued that "only real people, not artificial people like corporations, can have 'responsibilities.'"[1]

Friedman advocated advocated lifting criminal penalties for using illicit drugs.[2]

Ties to the American Legislative Exchange Council

Friedman spoke at ALEC's 33rd Annual Meeting in 2006, about issues including the economy, school choice, education reform, and tax reform.

ALEC is not a lobby; it is not a front group. It is much more powerful than that. Through ALEC, behind closed doors, corporations hand state legislators the changes to the law they desire that directly benefit their bottom line. Along with legislators, corporations have membership in ALEC. Corporations sit on all nine ALEC task forces and vote with legislators to approve “model” bills. They have their own corporate governing board which meets jointly with the legislative board. (ALEC says that corporations do not vote on the board.) They fund almost all of ALEC's operations. Participating legislators, overwhelmingly conservative Republicans, then bring those proposals home and introduce them in statehouses across the land as their own brilliant ideas and important public policy innovations—without disclosing that corporations crafted and voted on the bills. ALEC boasts that it has over 1,000 of these bills introduced by legislative members every year, with one in every five of them enacted into law. ALEC describes itself as a “unique,” “unparalleled” and “unmatched” organization. It might be right. It is as if a state legislature had been reconstituted, yet corporations had pushed the people out the door. Learn more at ALECexposed.org.

Tobacco industry association

INFOTAB members solicted Friedman to participate in the multinational tobacco industry's Social Costs/Social Values Project circa 1981, to slow the decline in social acceptabilty of smoking.[3]

Sourcewatch resources

• Corporate Social Responsibility

This article may include information from Tobacco Documents Online.