Freidman makes some good points sometimes, but he loves to construct and demolish absurd strawmen.
Consider this little exchange (my transcription):
Ah, ideology. Friedman goes on to claim without evidence that OSHA (MSHA) does a bad job and we were just as safe 100 years ago as we are today. Which, of course, is demonstrably false.
Ashbrook: Let me ask you -- I mean, people struggle with this. Everyone, I think, recognizes the incentives that that [free market] system, uh, brings to bear ... and the tremendous fruit that can come from that. At the same time, people have learned through hard and often bitter experience what rapacious dynamics can come out of the capitalist system. When you ask for the "second half of the battle" to be won ...
Freidman: Would you give me an example of rapacious? Hmm-ha ...
Ashbrook: Well, I have relatives who worked in coal mines, and, uh, and limbs were lost. You know, robber barons built mansions, and others, you know, barely made a living. It didn't look too good, I mean, it's not hard to see even today you can, you can look at ...
Friedman: And you think that government coal mines would not have had limbs come off?
Ashbrook: Uh, I think that, I-I don't know the absolute answer, but I'm-I'm tempted to be glad that OSHA's [He means MSHA -ed.] on the scene, looking, looking out for, you know, occupational safety in, uh, coal mine tunnels.
Friedman: Well look at those cases, those countries ... Russia had, uh, the Soviet Union had government-owned coal mines, and they had a very high rate of limbs coming off.
Ashbrook: [Pause] Okay, fair enough, and still ...