[Rhodes22-list] Economics - TV Worth Watching

[TN Rhodey]

Ed, You are full of shit!


>From: Tootle <ekroposki at charter.net>
>Reply-To: The Rhodes 22 mail list <rhodes22-list at rhodes22.org>
>To: rhodes22-list at rhodes22.org
>Subject: Re: [Rhodes22-list] Economics - TV Worth Watching
>Date: Thu, 1 Feb 2007 05:13:34 -0800 (PST)
>
>
>Brother Bradley:
>
>      You do not expect Dave L or Bill E or Ron L or the other fellow
>travelers to read and embrace this concept do you.  You are just pissing
>into the wind.
>
>       The first problem you encounter is that they have television brains.
>Just change the channel and instantly things will be fine.  Second, they do
>not believe that democracy needs to be nurtured.  That goes back to their
>television mentality where things will be instantly fine.  Third, they
>believe that bureaucracies work, there is no place for free people and
>individual responsibility.  Are you trying to create chaos or was that 
>Peter
>Drucker?
>
>Ed K
>Greenville, SC, USA
>Addendum:  "It is not by the consolidation of concentration of powers, but
>by  their distribution, that good government is affected." Thomas Jefferson
>
>
>Brad Haslett-2 wrote:
> >
> >
> > This is worthy of your time - check local listings.  Brad
> >
> > *TV's Evangelist for Capitalism
> > *The man behind "Free to Choose" with Milton Friedman.
> >
> > *BY JOHN H. FUND*
> > *Wednesday, January 31, 2007 12:01 a.m.*
> >
> > Despite his renown as a Nobel Prize-winning economist and best-selling
> > author, most people came to know the late Milton Friedman through
> > television. His 10-part 1980 series, "Free to Choose," was so popular 
>that
> > it aired three times on public television and is even now adding fans 
>via
> > a
> > free Internet video-stream (www.ideachannel.tv).
> >
> > So it's fitting that the original team of producers for "Free to Choose"
> > returned to PBS Monday (declared "Milton Friedman Day" in California by
> > Gov.
> > Arnold Schwarzenegger and Mayor Gavin Newsom of San Francisco) with a
> > 90-minute intellectual biography called "The Power of Choice: The Life 
>and
> > Times of Milton Friedman." (Many public television stations are airing 
>the
> > program at other times this week; check local listings.)
> >
> > The show ranges far and wide to show the influence of Friedman's 
>thought.
> > Former Prime Minister Mart Laar of Estonia, a former Soviet satellite 
>that
> > turned to free markets in desperation after independence, says that "the
> > only book about economy what I read was 'Free to Choose,' but there was 
>a
> > lot of good ideas in there, and I introduced a big part of those." Such
> > Friedmanite reforms as a 23% flat-rate income tax (soon to fall to 20%)
> > have
> > led the latest "Index of Economic Freedom" to list Estonia as the 12th
> > most
> > free economy in the world, ahead of Denmark and the Netherlands. The 
>show
> > is
> > chock-full of tributes from figures as diverse as Alan Greenspan and 
>Gov.
> > Schwarzenegger.
> >
> > As much as the show is a celebration of Friedman's life and work, it 
>also
> > showcases the remarkable entrepreneur who made it and "Free to Choose"
> > possible. Bob Chitester produced the original series while serving as 
>the
> > only public-TV station manager in the country who didn't believe in
> > government subsidies. A tireless promoter, he raised the equivalent of 
>$8
> > million today for the series--entirely from private sources, an
> > achievement
> > that delighted Friedman.
> >
> >  Mr. Chitester came to the project with an unusual background. In 1966, 
>he
> > became the general manager of the PBS station in Erie, Pa., at age 29. 
>An
> > opponent of the Vietnam War, he handed out literature for George 
>McGovern
> > in
> > 1972 and admits he knew nothing about economics. Then, in 1976, he met
> > with
> > economist W. Allen Wallis, who gave him a copy of Friedman's "Capitalism
> > and
> > Freedom." Mr. Chitester soaked it up, became a believer in markets, and
> > immediately began pursuing Friedman to do a series that would provide a
> > counterpoint to one by liberal economist John Kenneth Galbraith that PBS
> > was
> > airing.
> >
> > After all these years, Mr. Chitester is still surprised by how easily
> > Friedman's cooperation came. "I was a bearded, leather-jacketed,
> > small-town
> > TV executive, yet he treated me as competent and honorable, as he did
> > everyone he met, until you proved otherwise," he recalls.
> >
> > Surprisingly, Friedman insisted on not writing a script in advance of
> > filming. The points that would be made in each scene were discussed, but
> > his
> > commentary was extemporaneous. This resulted in such gems as the 
>economist
> > sitting in a sweatshop in New York's Chinatown, where he recalled the 
>days
> > when his mother worked in a similar environment. "Life was hard," 
>Friedman
> > noted, "but opportunity was real." He then transports the audience to a
> > junk
> > floating in the harbor of Hong Kong, "the freest market in the world,"
> > where
> > Friedman discusses how the then-British colony's leaders refused to
> > collect
> > some economic statistics because they feared they would be used as an
> > excuse
> > for government intervention in the booming economy.
> >
> > Since the success of "Free to Choose," Mr. Chitester has gone on to
> > produce
> > programs that range across time and space, from a dramatization of how 
>the
> > Pilgrims realized the importance of private property to a series on
> > private
> > space exploration. He has produced five teaching kits based on John
> > Stossel's ABC News TV specials that have been used in 84,000 classrooms 
>to
> > encourage more rigorous thinking about science and economics.
> >
> > Today, Mr. Chitester is most excited about a two-hour program he is
> > producing featuring Hernando de Soto. A Peruvian economist, Mr. de Soto
> > has
> > been the target of murder attempts by drug barons and Marxist terrorists
> > who
> > fear his message that the poor in developing nations need true
> > capitalism--property rights, markets and the rule of law. Time magazine
> > recently named him one of the five leading Latin American innovators of
> > the
> > century.
> >
> > Mr. de Soto warns that capitalism isn't working for the majority of the
> > world's people. This is largely because economic elites use their power 
>to
> > restrict competition, limit access to capital and promote their vested
> > interests over those less fortunate. That, in turn, undermines the
> > potential
> > of free markets to spread wealth and opportunity in the same way that 
>has
> > made developed nations so successful. "The poor are not the problem; 
>they
> > are the solution," Mr. de Soto says. "Give them access to land titles 
>that
> > can be used for collateral, the rule of law, a responsive bureaucracy 
>and
> > streamlined tools of business, and you will see creativity and
> > entrepreneurial self-reliance flourish."
> >
> > The program being planned for Mr. de Soto will take him from an Albanian
> > village, where ancient disputes over who owns what land are prompting
> > young
> > people to leave the country, to the office of a Tanzanian banker who has
> > tried in vain for 12 years to get a mortgage. Increasingly, Mr. de Soto
> > says
> > Americans need to appreciate how much developing nations are dominated 
>by
> > an
> > extralegal economy that must be brought into the mainstream. "What Bob 
>is
> > proposing is an eye-opening look at how to finally make poor countries
> > wealthy by empowering their people," says Ed Crane, president of the 
>Cato
> > Institute.
> >
> > But TV's evangelist for capitalism has other projects, too. He has
> > storyboards done for a series on Bjorn Lomborg, the Danish scientist who
> > has
> > gathered Nobel laureates together to agree on where money should be 
>spent
> > to
> > safeguard human life. (Hint: global-warming curbs are far down the 
>list.)
> > A
> > program on the life of former Secretary of State George Shultz is in the
> > works.
> >
> >  This week's PBS special pays tribute to the many achievements of Milton
> > Friedman. One that is often underappreciated is the extent to which he
> > demonstrated how visual images could influence and shape public debate. 
>As
> > his most ardent electronic disciple, Bob Chitester deserves the
> > free-market
> > community's equivalent of an Oscar.
> >
> > *Mr. Fund is a columnist for OpinionJournal.com.*
> > __________________________________________________
> > Use Rhodes22-list at rhodes22.org, Help? www.rhodes22.org/list
> >
> >
>
>--
>View this message in context: 
>http://www.nabble.com/Economics---TV-Worth-Watching-tf3154218.html#a8747915
>Sent from the Rhodes 22 mailing list archive at Nabble.com.
>
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