Friedman in the News

In a recent article in the Chicago Tribune titled. "College students pay to work at unpaid internships in the Summer", it discusses how college students are now paying different companies so they can get internships in the summer and so they do not have to apply at a million places without a response. Internship placement companies such as the University of Dreams and the Washington Center are having college students apply and pay a fee for internships in their major in order to build up their resume for the future. One student paid almost $8,000 to the University of Dreams for an internship in New York City while other students do not feel the need in wasting so much money for something they could easily get through hard work. Some students feel that they get lazy and forget to apply to certain internships and lose opportunities and with these companies helping them look for these internships, they have a better shot among other people. While these internships are amazing opportunities for the future and an investment towards your future goals, is getting paid nothing while you pay almost the cost of tuition for a semester really worth it? One student in this article is trying to find ways to fund this investment for her future, but is it worth it if you could find something closer to home that will pay you for your efforts. I know it is hard to put out your resumes at a million different places and wait for a response to at least one place, but the hard work behind the effort shows you how prepared you will be in the future when it comes to looking for a job.
To me, this article could relate to Milton Friedman's idea about how economic freedom is part of total freedom because of free choice. These students are getting stripped away the chance to make money for their work and instead of them getting paid almost $8000 for their work, they have to pay that for an opportunity that could come free through hard work. Even though the government is not playing a role in this situation, some students are having their economic freedom taken away by students who are willing to pay that much money for an internship that other students could get a chance at if it was free. Students who can not afford to pay that kind of money are losing the chance of getting these amazing opportunities, but maybe instead of not getting paid for that work, they could find something else. But what happens if these students want those opportunities, they are made to settle for something lower that in the end could lead them nowhere. Just like in class, when we talked about not being able to have that extra money from our paycheck because it was being put in a retirement fund for us without our decision, these students are facing the same dilemma. They are not having the decision about these internships because they are given to the students who are willing to pay almost $9,000.
When it comes to our economic freedom and our free choice, these companies are not taking into affect, the students who can not afford that type of money even if they had some financial help. They are not looking at what if other students wanted a shot at these internships, but they can not afford to pay for their services. Students are getting stripped away their economic freedom just like we can not smoke Cuban cigars because of the government. People will always find a way to take away our economic freedom through some type of action, but some people can always stand their ground and fight back.

Here's the link to this article: www.chicagotribune.com/business/ct-biz-0301-intens-story--20100301,0,1567115.story