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Bob Chitester

Born

in Kane, PA, The United States

October 30, 1937

Website

http://www.freetochoose.com/

Genre

Business, Politics, Entertainment

Influences

Milton Friedman

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Robert John Chitester, son of Palmer Rayburn Chitester & Ellen Louise Huffman; married Carol Beth Lovell, 2/28/58; children: Cindee Lynn, Kimberly Jo, Mark Kevin, Amy Beth; 8 grandchildren.
BA/MA University of Michigan
Republican
Trustee, Shimer College
Owns, Stossel.org, johnstossel.com &
johnstossel.org
Speaker at the Discussion Club
President/CEO of Free to Choose Media
Board of C. Northcote Parkinson Fund
Founder/Pres, Palmer R. Chitester Fund (www.chitester.net/index.php) formed w/Bradley Foundation money to create right wing media & sell educational materials based on ABC TV's arch-conservative John Stossel's reporting. It's Idea Channel distributes video on conversations between mostly members of right wing movements on topics like politic Robert John Chitester, son of Palmer Rayburn Chitester & Ellen Louise Huffman; married Carol Beth Lovell, 2/28/58; children: Cindee Lynn, Kimberly Jo, Mark Kevin, Amy Beth; 8 grandchildren.
BA/MA University of Michigan
Republican
Trustee, Shimer College
Owns, Stossel.org, johnstossel.com &
johnstossel.org
Speaker at the Discussion Club
President/CEO of Free to Choose Media
Board of C. Northcote Parkinson Fund
Founder/Pres, Palmer R. Chitester Fund (www.chitester.net/index.php) formed w/Bradley Foundation money to create right wing media & sell educational materials based on ABC TV's arch-conservative John Stossel's reporting. It's Idea Channel distributes video on conversations between mostly members of right wing movements on topics like political science, economics & history.
W/Rose Friedman, he's partner of Free to Choose Enterprise, celebrating Milton Friedman. Not believing in gov't subsidies, he raised an equivalent of $8 million today from private sources. He became general mgr of the Erie PBS station in '66. A Vietnam War opponent, ignorant of economics, he campaigned for McGovern. Economist W. Allen Wallis gave him Friedman's Capitalism & Freedom in '76. He became a market believer & began pursuing Friedman to do a series opposing one PBS was airing by economist John Kenneth Galbraith. Friedman insisted on not writing a script in advance. Intended points were discussed, but his commentary was extemporaneous. This resulted in gems like the economist in a Chinatown sweatshop, recalling his mother in similar environments. "Life was hard, but opportunity was real." He switches to a Hong Kong junk, "the freest market in the world," to discuss how the colony refused to collect some economic statistics, fearing their use to excuse gov't intervention.
Since "Free to Choose," Chitester has produced programs ranging from dramatizing how the Pilgrims realized private property's importance to one on private space exploration. Teaching kits based on John Stossel specials have been used in 84,000 classes to encourage science & economics thinking. Stossel, the Chitester Fund & ABC News affiliated w/conservative Geo Mason Univ professors to create the so-called "Stossel in the Classroom" series of study aids to accompany the professors' study guides. He plans a program w/Peruvian economist Hernando deSoto. DeSoto's targeted by Marxists & drug lords fearing his message that developing states need true capitalism. Capitalism isn't working for most because economic elites restrict competition, limit access to capital & promote vested interests which undermines a free market's potential to spread wealth & opportunity in ways which made developed nations successful. "The poor are not the problem; they are the solution," deSoto says. "Give them access to land titles that can be used for collateral, the rule of law, a responsive bureaucracy & streamlined tools of business, & you will see creativity & entrepreneurial self-reliance flourish." ...more