MILTON FRIEDMAN DAY DECLARED AT
CHICAGO MERCANTILE EXCHANGE

Chicago is First City to Declare Milton Friedman Day; Resolution Celebrates Nobel Prize- Winning Economist’s Impact on Economies and the Spread of Freedom 

Chicago, Illinois – Last night it was announced that the Chicago City Council passed a resolution declaring January 29, 2007, to be Milton Friedman Day.  The announcement of this resolution – the first step in a nationwide recognition of the life and work of the Nobel-Prize winning economist – took place at a reception yesterday evening at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME).

With this resolution, Chicago – where Milton Friedman, the 1976 Nobel Laureate in economics, began his influential work – has become the first American city to dedicate Milton Friedman Day, a celebration of the economist’s positive impact on American life, business, and the spread of the benefits of free markets to nations around the globe. 

The reception, which was a tribute to Milton Friedman, was co-sponsored by the University of Chicago, television production company Free to Choose Media, and the Chicago Mercantile Exchange.  “As the largest and most diverse financial exchange in the world, and a financial market innovator and proponent of free enterprise, CME is a perfect partner for sponsoring today’s tribute Dr. Friedman,” said Bob Chitester, president and CEO of Free to Choose Media.

Taking part in the ceremonies were CME Chief Executive Officer Craig Donohue; CME Chairman Emeritus Leo Melamed; Nobel Prize-winning economist Dr. Gary Becker; and Mark Hansen, Dean of the Division of Social Sciences at the University of Chicago.

“Today, most nations in the world embrace the free market precepts he espoused and popularized,” the Resolution states.  “Instrumental in ending the U.S. Army’s use of the draft, and serving as economic advisor to several presidents including Ronald Reagan, Milton Friedman and his ideas are validated again and again, and his influence only grows.”  To recognize that influence – and examine its full import – universities and institutions across the country are being asked to participate in a day of national debate on Milton Friedman day.  Friedman’s ideas will be explored as students discuss the role of free markets in economic growth, which is improving people’s lives and expanding opportunities for business to flourish worldwide, and debate the relationship of economic freedom to personal and political freedom.

In addition, on Monday, January 29, 2007 at 9:00 p.m. Central Time (check local listings), PBS will premiere “The Power of Choice: The Life and Ideas of Milton Friedman,” an exclusive documentary on the remarkable life and visionary ideas of Milton Friedman.  The special, produced for PBS by Free to Choose Media, gives viewers a new understanding of the magnitude of this legendary economist’s influence on the modern world.

As former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan once said of Dr. Friedman, “There are very few people over the generations who have ideas that are sufficiently original to materially alter the direction of civilization.  Milton is one of those very few people.”

To find out more about Milton Friedman Day and “The Power of Choice: The Life and Ideas of Milton Friedman”, please visit www.freetochoosemedia.org or call the media contacts below.

About CME
Chicago Mercantile Exchange Holdings Inc. became the first publicly traded U.S. financial exchange on Dec. 6, 2002.  The company was added to the S&P 500® Index on August 10, 2006, and the Russell 1000® Index on July 1, 2003. It is the parent company of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. (www.cme.com), the largest and most diverse financial exchange in the world.  As an international marketplace, CME brings together buyers and sellers on its CME Globex electronic trading platform and on its trading floors.  CME offers futures and options on futures primarily in interest rates, equities, foreign exchange and commodities.  The exchange managed $43.3 billion in collateral deposits at September 30, 2006, including $4.8 billion in deposits for non-CME products. 

About the University of Chicago
Founded by John D. Rockefeller, the University of Chicago is a private, nondenominational, coeducational institution of higher learning. The University places particular emphasis at the graduate level on training students for careers in academia and research. The undergraduate program focuses on critical thinking and broad interdisciplinary exposure to the full range of intellectual discovery. More than 70 recipients of the Nobel Prize have been researchers, students or faculty members at the University.

About Free To Choose Media
“The Power of Choice: The Life and Ideas of Milton Friedman”was produced by Free to Choose Media, a non-profit 501-c-3 public foundation whose mission is to use easily understood and entertaining popular media to reach inquisitive minds regarding the value and interrelationship of personal, economic and political freedom sustained by the rule of law.  The challenge of this media company for the 21st Century is to become a much more effective story teller thus making economic and political concepts accessible to all citizens.

#   #   #
Media Contacts:
Olivia Dupuis                                                              John Bianchi
Goodman Media International                                   Goodman Media International
(212) 576-2700, ext. 250                                            (212) 576-2700, ext. 228
odupuis@goodmanmedia.com                                   jbianchi@goodmanmedia.com