FRIEDMAN ON THE FREE MARKET FAIRY

Milton Friedman in Free to Choose provides the clearest exposition of many conservative ideas and I was struck by the many passages in which he essentially believes in magic. On the issue of free trade, for example, he blithely assumes that all will work out for the best in this best of all possible free market worlds:

Free trade would not only promote our material welfare, it would also foster peace and harmony among nations and domestic competition.
[snip]
The economic controls that have proliferated in the United States in recent decades have not only restricted our freedom to our economic resources, they have also affected our freedom speech, of press, and of religion. (page 39)

Unlike Friedman, Paul Krugman is a tad more realistic:

Yet it's bad economics to pretend that free trade is good for everyone, all the time. ''Trade often produces losers as well as winners,'' declares the best-selling textbook in international economics (by Maurice Obstfeld and yours truly). The accelerated pace of globalization means more losers as well as more winners; workers' fears that they will lose their jobs to Chinese factories and Indian call centers aren't irrational.