Original Link: http://www.politicususa.com/en/defeating-koch-waking-giant
By Hrafnkell Haraldsson
Boycott Koch Products! Or Not… Not a bad idea right? But first we need to know what not to buy. Somebody asked the other day what products to avoid, a question that had been in my mind as well. I decided to do some digging and found that others had done quite a bit of digging already.
I’d like to say we could boycott the Koch Brothers by not buying their products as has elsewhere and previously been suggested (a more recent effort is underway here), but easier said than done. As people found out this past year with regards to BP, these oil companies have their hands in a lot of pies. It’s almost impossible to escape.
If you want to understand the magnitude of the problem, go to your local grocery store or Walmart, Target, Meijer, or its equivalent and take a look around you. There you go. That’s what you can’t buy. Then go to your local Lowes or Home Depot and do the same. Now you appreciate the extent of the Koch Empire, and the extent of the public’s problem.
How do you put an economic dent in such a rich and diverse empire? Their products are almost impossible to escape. It’s no wonder they’re so wealthy that they can buy the United States of America with their pocket change.
Here are just a few of the more common items you’ll have to go without:
Toilet Paper
Paper Towels
Plates, Bowls, Napkins, Cups
Napkins, Paper Towels
Toilet Paper
Toilet Paper
Napkins
NapkinsNapkins
Yeah…George Pacific covers a lot of ground all on its own:
•paper towels;
•napkins;
•soap dispensing systems used in commerical settings;
•ink and office paper under the GP label;
•Spectrum® family of office paper products;
•Plywood including Plytanium Plywood ®, DryPly® plywood, Ply-Bead®;
•Corrugated boxes and containers
•ToughRock®, Fireguard®, DensArmor and DensShield® gypsum board.
Invista Products
One of the ways INVISTA carries out its commitment to innovation and industry leadership is through a large portfolio of well established brands and more than 4,400 trademark registrations worldwide. INVISTA’s brands span across an array of products: fibers, fabrics, polymers, resins, chemical intermediates and specialty chemicals. INVISTA’s diverse collection of brands offers relevant solutions in various industries.
See the full list of Invista brands here
It includes such well-known products like Dacron, Lycra, Stainmaster.
I’m not saying we can’t do without Koch products. I live in a townhouse. I don’t need building materials. I use Charmin, I use Kleenex and Puff and most often generic napkins. Most of the things in my home are, by my reckoning, not Koch products at all. But others will find it less difficult. I am fortunate perhaps in growing up with products that by chance happened to not be Koch.
The point of all this is that it’s no easy task to financially cripple an empire that has so well saturated the consumer market and the construction market. And we’re not even going to talk about the refineries that Koch subsidiaries operate in Alaska, Minnesota, and Texas which process in excess of 800,000 barrels per day, or their 4,000 miles of pipeline that transports crude oil and other products, or the ten million tons of nitrogen fertilizer produced each year, or all the paving and roofing asphalt they manufacture. Most people will probably not know, unless they make a serious study before they buy anything, whether or not they are supporting the destruction of American democracy with their purchase. Look at the Koch site itself to get a hint as to the extent of the problem.
Oh, and they also have European brands and they are making money overseas as well, no matter what patriotic Americans might choose to do without in order to save their way of life:
•Colhogar®
•Delica®
•Demak’Up®
•Inversoft®
•Kitten Soft®
•Lotus®
•Moltonel®
•Nouvelle®
•Okay
•Tenderly®
•Tutto®
That’s not to say we cannot defeat the Koch Brothers, or that we cannot hurt them in their pocket books. I am saying it will be very difficult, and will probably have to rely on means other than financial. These people spend tens of millions influencing the government, not only to pursue a right-wing political agenda and to fund the Tea Party movement, but to enable them to continue polluting the environment. A lot is at stake here. The question for America is, who wants it more? Who has the will to prevail? These plutocrats or freedom-loving Americans?
Remember, the Koch Brothers have another plutocrat on their side: Rupert Murdoch, who is more than happy to lie, cheat, and steal, in order to complete the destruction of American democracy. At that point, the Constitution itself will merely be another brand of Koch toilet paper. All the rest of us have on our side is…right…and justice. It will have to be enough
Saturday, March 12, 2011
PRIMERS ON THE KOCH BROTHERS FROM KANSAS
Original Link: http://eslkevin.wordpress.com/2011/02/25/primers-on-the-koch-brothers-from-kansas/
By Kevin Stoda
I was watching the Democracy Now Program (on Thursday Feb. 24) concerning the Unholy Alliance of Koch Brothers and the Governor Scott Walker of Wisconsin—and was surprised at the implication from the DN interview that the Koch brothers are from California. Of course, Koch Industries and the Koch family are from Kansas.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koch_Industries
Koch Industries has its headquarters in Wichita. By the way, in 2006 Koch Industries was already valued at nearly 100 billion dollars. Because Koch Industries apparently doesn’t pay all its taxes nor declare some of its income, it is not clear how much the firm is worth today. “Charles and David H. Koch each own 42% of Koch Industries, and Charles has stated that the company will publicly offer shares “literally over my dead body”. Finally, I should note that only Cargill corporation is a wealthier privately owned conglomerate in the USA.
http://www.democracynow.org/2011/2/24/billionaire_conservative_koch_brothers_fund_wisconsin
In a now-infamous spoof of one of the Koch Brothers, by blogger Ian Murphy who “revealed he had impersonated David Koch in a recorded phone conversation with an unsuspecting Walker” on Wednesday of this week, Ian Murphey [alias David Koch] invites Governor Walker to California saying “Well, I’ll you what, Scott. Once you crush these bastards [the protestors and unions], I’ll fly you out to Cali and really show you a good time.”
California isn’t anywhere near Kansas—therefore–I reckon’ or suggest you’all need to read up more on the Koch Brothers and Kansas sometime.
Here are a few articles or primers for you Koch-neophytes:
“Billionaire Brothers Out to Destroy Progressivism” http://whatsthematterwithkansas.com/2010/08/billionaire-koch-brothers-out-to-destroy-progressivism/
“Hightower: Two Billionaire Brothers [from Kansas] are Remaking America for their Own Benefit” http://www.alternet.org/investigations/146094/hightower:_two_right-wing_billionaire_brothers_are_remaking_america_for_their_own_benefit?page=entire
‘The Brothers Koch: Rich, Political, and Playing to Win”
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129425186
“The Koch Brothers are Buying Up Kansas” http://www.dirtandseeds.com/the-koch-brothers-are-buying-kansas/
“The Koch Brothers: a statewide and nationwide embarrassment for Kansas and the country”
http://moravings.blogspot.com/2011/02/koch-brothers-statewide-and-nationwide.html
“Koch Bros. behind Dangerous ‘Oil Sands’ Pipeline” http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/02/20/947740/-Koch-Bros-behind-dangerous-oil-sands-pipeline-UPDATE:-Action-alert
By Kevin Stoda
I was watching the Democracy Now Program (on Thursday Feb. 24) concerning the Unholy Alliance of Koch Brothers and the Governor Scott Walker of Wisconsin—and was surprised at the implication from the DN interview that the Koch brothers are from California. Of course, Koch Industries and the Koch family are from Kansas.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koch_Industries
Koch Industries has its headquarters in Wichita. By the way, in 2006 Koch Industries was already valued at nearly 100 billion dollars. Because Koch Industries apparently doesn’t pay all its taxes nor declare some of its income, it is not clear how much the firm is worth today. “Charles and David H. Koch each own 42% of Koch Industries, and Charles has stated that the company will publicly offer shares “literally over my dead body”. Finally, I should note that only Cargill corporation is a wealthier privately owned conglomerate in the USA.
http://www.democracynow.org/2011/2/24/billionaire_conservative_koch_brothers_fund_wisconsin
In a now-infamous spoof of one of the Koch Brothers, by blogger Ian Murphy who “revealed he had impersonated David Koch in a recorded phone conversation with an unsuspecting Walker” on Wednesday of this week, Ian Murphey [alias David Koch] invites Governor Walker to California saying “Well, I’ll you what, Scott. Once you crush these bastards [the protestors and unions], I’ll fly you out to Cali and really show you a good time.”
California isn’t anywhere near Kansas—therefore–I reckon’ or suggest you’all need to read up more on the Koch Brothers and Kansas sometime.
Here are a few articles or primers for you Koch-neophytes:
“Billionaire Brothers Out to Destroy Progressivism” http://whatsthematterwithkansas.com/2010/08/billionaire-koch-brothers-out-to-destroy-progressivism/
“Hightower: Two Billionaire Brothers [from Kansas] are Remaking America for their Own Benefit” http://www.alternet.org/investigations/146094/hightower:_two_right-wing_billionaire_brothers_are_remaking_america_for_their_own_benefit?page=entire
‘The Brothers Koch: Rich, Political, and Playing to Win”
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129425186
“The Koch Brothers are Buying Up Kansas” http://www.dirtandseeds.com/the-koch-brothers-are-buying-kansas/
“The Koch Brothers: a statewide and nationwide embarrassment for Kansas and the country”
http://moravings.blogspot.com/2011/02/koch-brothers-statewide-and-nationwide.html
“Koch Bros. behind Dangerous ‘Oil Sands’ Pipeline” http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/02/20/947740/-Koch-Bros-behind-dangerous-oil-sands-pipeline-UPDATE:-Action-alert
Koch brothers' latest purchase: Wisconsin
Original Link: http://www.milforddailynews.com/opinion/x1073915333/Press-Koch-brothers-latest-purchase-Wisconsin
By Bill Press
Sometimes, even the worst of people get it right. Speaking to ABC's "Good Morning America," Wisconsin's extreme right-wing Governor Scott Walker actually said something that makes sense: "It's time to tell the truth to the American people."
If only! If only Walker would tell the truth about why he's trying to bust the unions and who's paying the bills.
No matter how hard he and Fox News try to frame it as an attempt to solve Wisconsin's budget problems, Walker's legislation is nothing but a heavy-handed attempt to shut down unions by taking away their constitutional right to collective bargaining. That's what the protests in Madison, now spreading to other states, are all about.
Does Wisconsin have a short-term budget deficit? Yes, but only because of the $141 million in special-interest tax breaks Walker pushed through in January. Does Wisconsin have a long-term problem? Yes, because of a projected shortfall in public employee pension obligations. But state employees, who willingly worked 14 furlough days last year to help the state balance the budget, have already agreed to the financial sacrifices demanded by the governor: contributing more toward their health and retirement coverage - which translates into a 7 percent pay cut.
What they will not, and should not, accept is the second half of Walker's bill, which has nothing to do with the budget: an end to collective bargaining. Unions first won that right, in Madison, 75 years ago, with formation of the first chapter of AFSCME, the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees. Today, it's the only opportunity workers across the country have to fight for themselves and their families. They may not get everything they want in negotiations, but they should at least have a seat at the table.
But here's what the mainstream media will never tell you. If workers have already agreed to his budget demands, why is Governor Walker stubbornly insisting on breaking the backs of the unions? Because that's what the Koch brothers told him to do. And, in Wisconsin, as well as many other states, what the Koch brothers want, the Koch brothers get. And they're willing to pay handsomely for it.
Remember the names Charles G. and David H. Koch, because you're going to hear a lot more about them. By day, they are major polluters, heads of the energy and consumer products conglomerate Koch Brothers, based in Wichita, Kansas. By night, they are one of the most powerful and secretive forces in American politics - whose stated goal is to get rid of all government regulation. They have, in fact, used a big chunk of their oil money to found and fuel a right-wing political machine so vast, so widespread, and so influential that it's known in political circles as the "Kochtopus."
Like any self-respecting octopus, the Koch boys operate with many tentacles, their principal one a faux-grassroots, corporate-funded organization called Americans for Prosperity. In 2009 and 2010, AFP provided most of the funding for tea party rallies nationwide. They bused people to Washington to protest President Obama's health care reform and global warming legislation. They paid for buses to Glenn Beck's rally at the Lincoln Memorial. They put up the money for Proposition 23, an unsuccessful effort to overturn California's strict climate change laws. And, all the while, they fueled a relentless series of vicious, personal attacks on President Obama.
The Kochtopus was also active at the state level, supporting Republican candidates for governor who would embrace their anti-government agenda. And they found their poster boy in Scott Walker, always willing to dance to the Koch brothers' tune - and take their call, even when it's fake.
Because of the Supreme Court's Citizens United decision, allowing unlimited and unreported corporate campaign contributions, it's impossible to trace all the money the Kochs poured into Wisconsin. But we do know that Koch Industries was Walker's second-biggest contributor. Their PAC gave $1 million to the Republican Governors Association, which spent $4.3 million attacking Walker's opponent. The Koch-funded American Legislative Exchange Council advised Walker on his union-busting legislation. And Koch Industries have opened their own lobbyist office in Madison.
But don't say Scott Walker isn't grateful. Buried deep inside the governor's so-called "budget repair" bill is a totally unrelated provision allowing no-bid sales of state-owned heating, cooling, and power plants. And, in Wisconsin, guess who's the leading customer for buying power plants? Koch Industries.
Follow the money. In Wisconsin, it leads to Charles and David Koch.
By Bill Press
Sometimes, even the worst of people get it right. Speaking to ABC's "Good Morning America," Wisconsin's extreme right-wing Governor Scott Walker actually said something that makes sense: "It's time to tell the truth to the American people."
If only! If only Walker would tell the truth about why he's trying to bust the unions and who's paying the bills.
No matter how hard he and Fox News try to frame it as an attempt to solve Wisconsin's budget problems, Walker's legislation is nothing but a heavy-handed attempt to shut down unions by taking away their constitutional right to collective bargaining. That's what the protests in Madison, now spreading to other states, are all about.
Does Wisconsin have a short-term budget deficit? Yes, but only because of the $141 million in special-interest tax breaks Walker pushed through in January. Does Wisconsin have a long-term problem? Yes, because of a projected shortfall in public employee pension obligations. But state employees, who willingly worked 14 furlough days last year to help the state balance the budget, have already agreed to the financial sacrifices demanded by the governor: contributing more toward their health and retirement coverage - which translates into a 7 percent pay cut.
What they will not, and should not, accept is the second half of Walker's bill, which has nothing to do with the budget: an end to collective bargaining. Unions first won that right, in Madison, 75 years ago, with formation of the first chapter of AFSCME, the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees. Today, it's the only opportunity workers across the country have to fight for themselves and their families. They may not get everything they want in negotiations, but they should at least have a seat at the table.
But here's what the mainstream media will never tell you. If workers have already agreed to his budget demands, why is Governor Walker stubbornly insisting on breaking the backs of the unions? Because that's what the Koch brothers told him to do. And, in Wisconsin, as well as many other states, what the Koch brothers want, the Koch brothers get. And they're willing to pay handsomely for it.
Remember the names Charles G. and David H. Koch, because you're going to hear a lot more about them. By day, they are major polluters, heads of the energy and consumer products conglomerate Koch Brothers, based in Wichita, Kansas. By night, they are one of the most powerful and secretive forces in American politics - whose stated goal is to get rid of all government regulation. They have, in fact, used a big chunk of their oil money to found and fuel a right-wing political machine so vast, so widespread, and so influential that it's known in political circles as the "Kochtopus."
Like any self-respecting octopus, the Koch boys operate with many tentacles, their principal one a faux-grassroots, corporate-funded organization called Americans for Prosperity. In 2009 and 2010, AFP provided most of the funding for tea party rallies nationwide. They bused people to Washington to protest President Obama's health care reform and global warming legislation. They paid for buses to Glenn Beck's rally at the Lincoln Memorial. They put up the money for Proposition 23, an unsuccessful effort to overturn California's strict climate change laws. And, all the while, they fueled a relentless series of vicious, personal attacks on President Obama.
The Kochtopus was also active at the state level, supporting Republican candidates for governor who would embrace their anti-government agenda. And they found their poster boy in Scott Walker, always willing to dance to the Koch brothers' tune - and take their call, even when it's fake.
Because of the Supreme Court's Citizens United decision, allowing unlimited and unreported corporate campaign contributions, it's impossible to trace all the money the Kochs poured into Wisconsin. But we do know that Koch Industries was Walker's second-biggest contributor. Their PAC gave $1 million to the Republican Governors Association, which spent $4.3 million attacking Walker's opponent. The Koch-funded American Legislative Exchange Council advised Walker on his union-busting legislation. And Koch Industries have opened their own lobbyist office in Madison.
But don't say Scott Walker isn't grateful. Buried deep inside the governor's so-called "budget repair" bill is a totally unrelated provision allowing no-bid sales of state-owned heating, cooling, and power plants. And, in Wisconsin, guess who's the leading customer for buying power plants? Koch Industries.
Follow the money. In Wisconsin, it leads to Charles and David Koch.
The Koch Brothers Own Scott Walker
Original Link: http://www.opednews.com/articles/The-Koch-Brothers-Own-Scot-by-Bill-Hare-110311-576.html
By Bill Hare
The Gilded Age of America in the late nineteenth century embodied ownership of politicians.
While political bosses like Boss Tweed and Jim Fisk controlled and owned politicians, these representatives knew what their corporate sponsors expected. It was a period when the United States Senate was called The Millionaires Club. The corporate owners pulling the strings on their bought political puppets saw that they were sufficiently enriched as they did their bidding.
Similarities abound on what is occurring now and what happened in that corporate dominated post-Civil War period. While reformers such as William Jennings Bryan and the populist movement called for the direct election of United States Senators, corporate string pullers denounced such "radical" notions and preferred the then current system of state legislatures selecting them. Guess who pulled the strings on state legislators and observe what is happening currently.
A current idea gaining traction in certain Tea Party think tanks is that more local control is needed in selecting U.S. Senators. In that vein certain corporatists are floating the idea, using the faux issue of local control and that perpetually abused word of the corporate right of "freedom" to suggest that going back to the old way of selecting U.S. Senators was a good idea.
It took a book by Upton Sinclair, then considered a radical reformer, called "The Jungle" to push the idea ultimately adopted of government regulated food inspection. Sinclair monitored the tragic activities of meat processing in Chicago's Stockyards and reform was ultimately achieved in that vital area.
So what is happening now? Inspectors are being laid off because a tough decision had to be made about the vital corporatist issue of more tax cuts for corporations and wealthy citizens so guess which interest won out? Say goodbye to inspectors and hello to more tax cuts for the wealthy.
During a bloody period of the thirties Henry Ford greeted the effort of Walter and Victor Reuther to organize a United Auto Workers branch at his company. Ford hired goon squads to physically attack workers.
A reformer named President Franklin Delano Roosevelt stepped up to the plate in that instance and protected the UAW and other labor organizers elsewhere from goon squads as federal troops were marched in to restore order and allow unions an opportunity to be accepted in the corporate workplace.
So that brings us to current activities in Wisconsin. Governor Scott Walker, in the tradition of the Gilded Age, is a bought and paid for representative of the Koch Brothers. This ownership is so conspicuous that Walker might as well wear a Koch Brothers sweatshirt advertising his devotion to their cause.
The Koch Brothers donated handsomely to Walker's campaign, but this is just the beginning. Among their holdings are six timber plants and a large network of pipelines in Wisconsin. They own a coal company with facilities in Green Bay, Manitowoc, Ashland and Sheboygan.
At a time when Koch Industries owners David and Charles Koch awarded themselves an extra $11 billion of income from the company, they reportedly slashed jobs at their Green Bay plant.
According to the website Think Progress, "Officials at Georgia-Pacific said the company is laying off 158 workers at its Day Street plant because out-of-date equipment at the facility is being replaced with newer, more-efficient equipment. The company said much of the new, papermaking equipment will be automated."
These are reportedly not layoffs stemming from a normally accepted economic response resulting from a drop in demand. In fact, demand is said to remain high for the bath tissue and napkins manufactured at the plant.
There is more, significantly more, regarding Walker as loyal vassal to Koch Industries. Andrew Leonard reports in the February 22, 2011 issue of Salon.com that Wisconsin's Budget Repair Bill contains the following smoking gun provisions: "16.896 Sale or contractual operation of state-owned heating, cooling, and power plants. (1) Notwithstanding ss. 13.48 (14) (am) and 16.705 (1), the department may sell any state-owned heating, cooling, and power plant or may contract with a private entity for the operation of any such plant, with or without solicitation of bids, for any amount that the department determines to be in the best interest of the state. Notwithstanding ss. 196.49 and 196.80, no approval or certification of the public service commission is necessary for a public utility to purchase, or contract for the operation of, such a plant, and any such purchase is considered to be in the public interest and to comply with the criteria for certification of a project under s. 196.49 (3) (b)."
The result would be no bid contracts within Wisconsin for Koch Industries since they operate within the state in numerous energy-related fields.
So union busting is just one element of the ongoing Koch Brothers-Scott Walker incestuous relationship. No bid contracts is another juicy morsel achieved through greasing the right palms in the New Gilded Age of corporate plutocracy.
By Bill Hare
The Gilded Age of America in the late nineteenth century embodied ownership of politicians.
While political bosses like Boss Tweed and Jim Fisk controlled and owned politicians, these representatives knew what their corporate sponsors expected. It was a period when the United States Senate was called The Millionaires Club. The corporate owners pulling the strings on their bought political puppets saw that they were sufficiently enriched as they did their bidding.
Similarities abound on what is occurring now and what happened in that corporate dominated post-Civil War period. While reformers such as William Jennings Bryan and the populist movement called for the direct election of United States Senators, corporate string pullers denounced such "radical" notions and preferred the then current system of state legislatures selecting them. Guess who pulled the strings on state legislators and observe what is happening currently.
A current idea gaining traction in certain Tea Party think tanks is that more local control is needed in selecting U.S. Senators. In that vein certain corporatists are floating the idea, using the faux issue of local control and that perpetually abused word of the corporate right of "freedom" to suggest that going back to the old way of selecting U.S. Senators was a good idea.
It took a book by Upton Sinclair, then considered a radical reformer, called "The Jungle" to push the idea ultimately adopted of government regulated food inspection. Sinclair monitored the tragic activities of meat processing in Chicago's Stockyards and reform was ultimately achieved in that vital area.
So what is happening now? Inspectors are being laid off because a tough decision had to be made about the vital corporatist issue of more tax cuts for corporations and wealthy citizens so guess which interest won out? Say goodbye to inspectors and hello to more tax cuts for the wealthy.
During a bloody period of the thirties Henry Ford greeted the effort of Walter and Victor Reuther to organize a United Auto Workers branch at his company. Ford hired goon squads to physically attack workers.
A reformer named President Franklin Delano Roosevelt stepped up to the plate in that instance and protected the UAW and other labor organizers elsewhere from goon squads as federal troops were marched in to restore order and allow unions an opportunity to be accepted in the corporate workplace.
So that brings us to current activities in Wisconsin. Governor Scott Walker, in the tradition of the Gilded Age, is a bought and paid for representative of the Koch Brothers. This ownership is so conspicuous that Walker might as well wear a Koch Brothers sweatshirt advertising his devotion to their cause.
The Koch Brothers donated handsomely to Walker's campaign, but this is just the beginning. Among their holdings are six timber plants and a large network of pipelines in Wisconsin. They own a coal company with facilities in Green Bay, Manitowoc, Ashland and Sheboygan.
At a time when Koch Industries owners David and Charles Koch awarded themselves an extra $11 billion of income from the company, they reportedly slashed jobs at their Green Bay plant.
According to the website Think Progress, "Officials at Georgia-Pacific said the company is laying off 158 workers at its Day Street plant because out-of-date equipment at the facility is being replaced with newer, more-efficient equipment. The company said much of the new, papermaking equipment will be automated."
These are reportedly not layoffs stemming from a normally accepted economic response resulting from a drop in demand. In fact, demand is said to remain high for the bath tissue and napkins manufactured at the plant.
There is more, significantly more, regarding Walker as loyal vassal to Koch Industries. Andrew Leonard reports in the February 22, 2011 issue of Salon.com that Wisconsin's Budget Repair Bill contains the following smoking gun provisions: "16.896 Sale or contractual operation of state-owned heating, cooling, and power plants. (1) Notwithstanding ss. 13.48 (14) (am) and 16.705 (1), the department may sell any state-owned heating, cooling, and power plant or may contract with a private entity for the operation of any such plant, with or without solicitation of bids, for any amount that the department determines to be in the best interest of the state. Notwithstanding ss. 196.49 and 196.80, no approval or certification of the public service commission is necessary for a public utility to purchase, or contract for the operation of, such a plant, and any such purchase is considered to be in the public interest and to comply with the criteria for certification of a project under s. 196.49 (3) (b)."
The result would be no bid contracts within Wisconsin for Koch Industries since they operate within the state in numerous energy-related fields.
So union busting is just one element of the ongoing Koch Brothers-Scott Walker incestuous relationship. No bid contracts is another juicy morsel achieved through greasing the right palms in the New Gilded Age of corporate plutocracy.
Saturday, March 5, 2011
How the rich soaked the rest of us
Original Link: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2011/mar/01/us-taxation-public-finance
By Richard Wolff
Over the last half century, the richest Americans have shifted the burden of the federal individual income tax off themselves and onto everybody else. The three convenient and accurate Wikipedia graphs below show the details. The first graph compares the official tax rates paid by the top and bottom income earners. Note especially that from the end of the second world war into the early 1960s, the highest income earners paid a tax rate over 90% for many years. Today, the top earners pay a rate of only 35%. Note also how the gap between the rates paid by the richest and the poorest has narrowed. If we take into account the many loopholes the rich can and do use far more than the poor, the gap narrows even more.
One conclusion is clear and obvious: the richest Americans have dramatically lowered their income tax burden since 1945, both absolutely and relative to the tax burdens of the middle income groups and the poor.
Historical tax rates for the highest and lowest income earners Consider two further points based on this graph: first, if the highest income earners today were required to pay the same rate that they paid for many years after 1945, the federal government would need far lower deficits to support the private economy through its current crisis; and second, those tax-the-rich years after 1945 experienced far lower unemployment and far faster economic growth than we have had for years.
The lower taxes the rich got for themselves are one reason why they have become so much richer over the last half century. Just as their tax rates started to come down from their 1960s heights, so their shares of the total national income began their rise. As the two other Wikipedia graphs below show, we have now returned to the extreme inequality of income that characterised the US a century ago.
Share of national income taken by top tranches of earners The graph above shows the portion/percentage of total national income taken by the top 1%, the top tenth of a percent, and the top 100th of a percent of individuals and families: the richest of the rich. The third graph compares what happened to the after-tax household incomes of Americans from 1979 to 2005 (adjusted for inflation). The bottom fifth of poorest citizens saw their income barely rise at all. The middle fifth of income earners saw their after-tax household income rise by less than 25%. Meanwhile, the top 1 % of households saw their after-tax household incomes rise by 175%.
Relative increases in net household incomes of Americans from 1979 to 2005 In simplest terms, the richest Americans have done by far the best over the last 30 years, they are more able to pay taxes today than they have been in many decades, and they are more able to pay than other Americans by a far wider margin. At a time of national economic crisis, especially, they can and should contribute far more in taxes.
Instead, a rather vicious cycle has been at work for years. Reduced taxes on the rich leave them with more money to influence politicians and politics. Their influence wins them further tax reductions, which gives them still more money to put to political use. When the loss of tax revenue from the rich worsens already strained government budgets, the rich press politicians to cut public services and government jobs and not even debate a return to the higher taxes the rich used to pay. So it goes – from Washington, to Wisconsin, to New York City.
How do the rich justify and excuse this record? They claim that they can invest the money they save from taxes and thereby create jobs, etc. But do they? In fact, cutting rich people's taxes is often very bad for the rest of us (beyond the worsening inequality and hobbled government it produces).
Several examples show this. First, a good part of the money the rich save from taxes is then lent by them to the government (in the form of buying US Treasury securities for their personal investment portfolios). It would obviously be better for the government to tax the rich to maintain its expenditures, and thereby avoid deficits and debts. Then the government would not need to tax the rest of us to pay interest on those debts to the rich.
Second, the richest Americans take the money they save from taxes and invest big parts of it in China, India and elsewhere. That often produces more jobs over there, fewer jobs here, and more imports of goods produced abroad. US dollars flow out to pay for those imports and so accumulate in the hands of foreign banks and foreign governments. They, in turn, lend from that wealth to the US government because it does not tax our rich, and so we get taxed to pay for the interest Washington has to give those foreign banks and governments. The largest single recipient of such interest payments today is the People's Republic of China.
Third, the richest Americans take the money they don't pay in taxes and invest it in hedge funds and with stockbrokers to make profitable investments. These days, that often means speculating in oil and food, which drives up their prices, undermines economic recovery for the mass of Americans, and produces acute suffering around the globe. Those hedge funds and brokers likewise use part of the money rich people save from taxes to speculate in the US stock markets. That has recently driven stock prices higher: hence, the stock market recovery. And that mostly helps – you guessed it – the richest Americans who own most of the stocks.
The one kind of significant wealth average Americans own, if they own any, is their individual home. And home values remain deeply depressed: no recovery there.
Cutting the taxes on the rich in no way guarantees social benefits from what they may choose to do with their money. Indeed, their choices can worsen economic conditions for the mass of people. These days, that is exactly what they are doing.
By Richard Wolff
Over the last half century, the richest Americans have shifted the burden of the federal individual income tax off themselves and onto everybody else. The three convenient and accurate Wikipedia graphs below show the details. The first graph compares the official tax rates paid by the top and bottom income earners. Note especially that from the end of the second world war into the early 1960s, the highest income earners paid a tax rate over 90% for many years. Today, the top earners pay a rate of only 35%. Note also how the gap between the rates paid by the richest and the poorest has narrowed. If we take into account the many loopholes the rich can and do use far more than the poor, the gap narrows even more.
One conclusion is clear and obvious: the richest Americans have dramatically lowered their income tax burden since 1945, both absolutely and relative to the tax burdens of the middle income groups and the poor.
Historical tax rates for the highest and lowest income earners Consider two further points based on this graph: first, if the highest income earners today were required to pay the same rate that they paid for many years after 1945, the federal government would need far lower deficits to support the private economy through its current crisis; and second, those tax-the-rich years after 1945 experienced far lower unemployment and far faster economic growth than we have had for years.
The lower taxes the rich got for themselves are one reason why they have become so much richer over the last half century. Just as their tax rates started to come down from their 1960s heights, so their shares of the total national income began their rise. As the two other Wikipedia graphs below show, we have now returned to the extreme inequality of income that characterised the US a century ago.
Share of national income taken by top tranches of earners The graph above shows the portion/percentage of total national income taken by the top 1%, the top tenth of a percent, and the top 100th of a percent of individuals and families: the richest of the rich. The third graph compares what happened to the after-tax household incomes of Americans from 1979 to 2005 (adjusted for inflation). The bottom fifth of poorest citizens saw their income barely rise at all. The middle fifth of income earners saw their after-tax household income rise by less than 25%. Meanwhile, the top 1 % of households saw their after-tax household incomes rise by 175%.
Relative increases in net household incomes of Americans from 1979 to 2005 In simplest terms, the richest Americans have done by far the best over the last 30 years, they are more able to pay taxes today than they have been in many decades, and they are more able to pay than other Americans by a far wider margin. At a time of national economic crisis, especially, they can and should contribute far more in taxes.
Instead, a rather vicious cycle has been at work for years. Reduced taxes on the rich leave them with more money to influence politicians and politics. Their influence wins them further tax reductions, which gives them still more money to put to political use. When the loss of tax revenue from the rich worsens already strained government budgets, the rich press politicians to cut public services and government jobs and not even debate a return to the higher taxes the rich used to pay. So it goes – from Washington, to Wisconsin, to New York City.
How do the rich justify and excuse this record? They claim that they can invest the money they save from taxes and thereby create jobs, etc. But do they? In fact, cutting rich people's taxes is often very bad for the rest of us (beyond the worsening inequality and hobbled government it produces).
Several examples show this. First, a good part of the money the rich save from taxes is then lent by them to the government (in the form of buying US Treasury securities for their personal investment portfolios). It would obviously be better for the government to tax the rich to maintain its expenditures, and thereby avoid deficits and debts. Then the government would not need to tax the rest of us to pay interest on those debts to the rich.
Second, the richest Americans take the money they save from taxes and invest big parts of it in China, India and elsewhere. That often produces more jobs over there, fewer jobs here, and more imports of goods produced abroad. US dollars flow out to pay for those imports and so accumulate in the hands of foreign banks and foreign governments. They, in turn, lend from that wealth to the US government because it does not tax our rich, and so we get taxed to pay for the interest Washington has to give those foreign banks and governments. The largest single recipient of such interest payments today is the People's Republic of China.
Third, the richest Americans take the money they don't pay in taxes and invest it in hedge funds and with stockbrokers to make profitable investments. These days, that often means speculating in oil and food, which drives up their prices, undermines economic recovery for the mass of Americans, and produces acute suffering around the globe. Those hedge funds and brokers likewise use part of the money rich people save from taxes to speculate in the US stock markets. That has recently driven stock prices higher: hence, the stock market recovery. And that mostly helps – you guessed it – the richest Americans who own most of the stocks.
The one kind of significant wealth average Americans own, if they own any, is their individual home. And home values remain deeply depressed: no recovery there.
Cutting the taxes on the rich in no way guarantees social benefits from what they may choose to do with their money. Indeed, their choices can worsen economic conditions for the mass of people. These days, that is exactly what they are doing.
How Koch Industries Makes Billions Corrupting Government And Polluting For Free (Part 2)
Original Link: http://thinkprogress.org/2011/03/01/koch-polluter-bailout/
By Lee Fang
In an opinion piece published today responding to his critics, Koch Industries CEO Charles Koch promised to continue to finance anti-government, right-wing front groups. Charles writes that the “purpose of business is to efficiently convert resources into products and services that make people’s lives better.” But when it comes to Koch’s carcinogenic pollution and carbon emissions, the purpose of Koch’s political giving is to avoid any financial responsibility — no matter who gets hurt. Koch Industries has cornered the market in monetizing some of the most dirty industrial businesses. Koch imports oil from the Middle East, refines high-carbon Canadian crude, maintains coal-burning plants, owns one of the largest oil pipeline networks in America, runs environmentally hazardous lumber mills, produces toxic chemicals, and manufacturers fertilizer. The University of Masschusetts Amherst has scored Koch as among the top ten worst air polluters for its carcinogenic chemicals.
Much of the entire Koch political machine is geared towards ensuring that Koch Industries never has to compensate the people and ecosystems damaged by Koch Industries pollution. Koch front groups — from Tea Party groups to think tanks — have diligently promoted Koch Industries’ bottom line by denying global warming, fighting regulations on Koch’s cancer-causing chemicals, and snuffing out investigations into Koch’s environmental crimes:
– In 1990, as both Republicans and Democrats proposed a cap and trade system to address acid rain, Koch financed a front group called “Concerned Citizens for the Environment” to battle proposed regulations. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported that the group “has no citizen membership of its own,” but produced studies arguing that acid rain was a myth and that deregulation would benefit the environment. Koch refineries and factories, top emitters of acid rain-causing toxins, were impacted by the successful cap and trade system. A front group founded by David Koch, Citizens for a Sound Economy (which later changed its name to Americans for Prosperity), also battled regulations designed to combat acid rain, labeling the problem a “myth.”
– Koch Industries vastly expanded its political giving in reaction to revelations that the company had systematically stolen oil from Native American reservations and federal lands. Sen. Bob Dole (R-KS), a personal friend of the Koch brothers and top recipient of Koch money, sponsored legislation to suppress an investigation into the oil thefts. Over 50 Koch Industries employees later testified that indeed the “Koch Method” of manipulating data to surreptitiously take Native American oil resulted in an estimated 300 million gallons of oil the company received for free. Koch later settled for $25 million in penalties.
– Between 1995 and 1997 there were over 300 reported oil spills at pipelines owned and operated by Koch, which caused an estimated three million gallons of oil into lakes and streams in six states. David Koch helped Sen. Bob Dole (R-KS) raise over $150,000 for his campaign, and was rewarded with Dole-sponsored legislation that would have helped Koch Industries avoid serious penalties for the oil spills. On January 13, 2000, the government settled that case for $35 million in fines.
– In 1997, the EPA proposed strengthening rules governing air pollution, regulating particles from coal plants and industrial plants which cause tens of thousands of premature deaths a year. Again, because Koch’s factories were impacted by the regulations, Koch-funded front groups sprung into action. Koch’s Citizens for a Sound Economy front group ran ads claiming (Koch Industries created) particle pollution isn’t harmful. One ad featured a ”pediatrician” who says increased rates of asthma are not caused by the toxic particles, but rather by “dust mites, stuff like that.” Another ad from CSE claimed the EPA regulations would ban fireworks and backyard grills. ”Imagine that,” the ad stated, ”a new government regulation that takes away our freedom to, huh, celebrate our freedom.”
– Koch funneled large amounts of donations into electing George Bush in 2000 (even sending Koch-linked lobbyists to help disrupt the Florida recount). At the time, Koch Industries faced a 97-count federal indictment charging it with concealing illegal releases of 91 metric tons of benzene, known to cause leukemia, from its refinery in Corpus Christi, Texas. When Bush took office, his Justice Department dropped 88 of the charges and settled the case for a small amount of money.
– As the Wonk Room’s Brad Johnson has reported, Koch Industries emits over 300 million tons of greenhouse gases a year. That is why, as a Greenpeace study has found, Koch Industries has pumped about $50 million into dozens of front groups denying the existence of climate change. To block EPA regulations of Koch’s carbon pollution, Koch fronts, like Americans for Prosperity, the Hot Air Tour, and the Regulation Reality Tour, have expanded their lobbying to children.
– Investigations by the Los Angeles Times and the Wonk Room have found that the House Republican push to neuter the EPA is largely coordinated by Koch lobbyists. Koch front groups helped elect the new Republican Congress, and have closely worked with the new Republican chair of the Energy and Commerce committee, Rep. Fred Upton (R-MI). Koch allies in Congress have passed amendments to gut the EPA’s power to regulate greenhouse gas emissions, enforce the Clean Air Act, and even monitor other air and water pollutants. They also cut funding for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
– One Koch front, the “No Climate Tax Pledge,” has successfully manipulated the Republican primary process by demanding that Republicans sign a pledge against supporting clean energy solutions. This pernicious political ploy, along with millions in Koch campaign donations, has resulted in the majority of the Republican caucus now doubting the science underpinning climate change.
– After a lobbying campaign waged by Koch fronts Americans for Prosperity, Competitive Enterprise Institute, Cato Institute, and others to stop federal action on climate change, Koch fronts have worked to decimate state-level efforts to curb carbon emissions. As ThinkProgress first reported, Koch fronts were at the forefront of an effort last year to repeal California’s landmark clean energy law. Currently, Koch fronts, including the State Policy Network and the American Legislative Exchange Council, are working to revoke the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative in New England.
– Koch Industries is one of the largest producers of formaldehyde, a chemical that “several major scientific studies have concluded” causes cancer in human beings. Koch’s conservative front groups have battled proposed regulations on formaldehyde, and David Koch used his position on the National Institutes of Health to try to stop the EPA from classifying it as a “known carcinogen” in humans.
Gov. Scott Walker’s (R-WI) demand that he be allowed to sell off Wisconsin’s state owned power plants with no-bid contracts has fueled suspicion that Koch Industries might take advantage of the deal, especially given Koch’s support for the Walker campaign and his current power grab. But the more dangerous Koch Industries kickback from Walker is likely to be from his administration’s approach to environmental regulations. Koch owns several Georgia Pacific plants along the Fox River near Green Bay. These plants are notorious for dumping thousands of pounds of toxic waste into the river, so it is discouraging that Walker’s administration has indicated that it will rollback environmental safeguards. If Walker allows Koch to pollute Wisconsin’s waterways, he is risking the lives and health of Wisconsin’s people.
In his book, the Science of Success, Charles pays tribute to libertarian scholar F.A. Hayek as one his role models. But Hayek famously wrote that pollution should be regulated not only for the “owner of the property in question or to those who are willing to submit to the damage,” but for society at large.
As one of the leading sources of carcinogenic chemicals and greenhouse gases, Koch’s financing of anti-regulation front groups is a back-door lobbying attempt to avoid having to pay for Koch Industries’ pollution. Refusing to pay for pollution is the core of the Koch business, and allows the company to make billions in illegitimate profits. Moreover, a business refusing to pay for its own pollution violates true libertarian principles.
By Lee Fang
In an opinion piece published today responding to his critics, Koch Industries CEO Charles Koch promised to continue to finance anti-government, right-wing front groups. Charles writes that the “purpose of business is to efficiently convert resources into products and services that make people’s lives better.” But when it comes to Koch’s carcinogenic pollution and carbon emissions, the purpose of Koch’s political giving is to avoid any financial responsibility — no matter who gets hurt. Koch Industries has cornered the market in monetizing some of the most dirty industrial businesses. Koch imports oil from the Middle East, refines high-carbon Canadian crude, maintains coal-burning plants, owns one of the largest oil pipeline networks in America, runs environmentally hazardous lumber mills, produces toxic chemicals, and manufacturers fertilizer. The University of Masschusetts Amherst has scored Koch as among the top ten worst air polluters for its carcinogenic chemicals.
Much of the entire Koch political machine is geared towards ensuring that Koch Industries never has to compensate the people and ecosystems damaged by Koch Industries pollution. Koch front groups — from Tea Party groups to think tanks — have diligently promoted Koch Industries’ bottom line by denying global warming, fighting regulations on Koch’s cancer-causing chemicals, and snuffing out investigations into Koch’s environmental crimes:
– In 1990, as both Republicans and Democrats proposed a cap and trade system to address acid rain, Koch financed a front group called “Concerned Citizens for the Environment” to battle proposed regulations. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported that the group “has no citizen membership of its own,” but produced studies arguing that acid rain was a myth and that deregulation would benefit the environment. Koch refineries and factories, top emitters of acid rain-causing toxins, were impacted by the successful cap and trade system. A front group founded by David Koch, Citizens for a Sound Economy (which later changed its name to Americans for Prosperity), also battled regulations designed to combat acid rain, labeling the problem a “myth.”
– Koch Industries vastly expanded its political giving in reaction to revelations that the company had systematically stolen oil from Native American reservations and federal lands. Sen. Bob Dole (R-KS), a personal friend of the Koch brothers and top recipient of Koch money, sponsored legislation to suppress an investigation into the oil thefts. Over 50 Koch Industries employees later testified that indeed the “Koch Method” of manipulating data to surreptitiously take Native American oil resulted in an estimated 300 million gallons of oil the company received for free. Koch later settled for $25 million in penalties.
– Between 1995 and 1997 there were over 300 reported oil spills at pipelines owned and operated by Koch, which caused an estimated three million gallons of oil into lakes and streams in six states. David Koch helped Sen. Bob Dole (R-KS) raise over $150,000 for his campaign, and was rewarded with Dole-sponsored legislation that would have helped Koch Industries avoid serious penalties for the oil spills. On January 13, 2000, the government settled that case for $35 million in fines.
– In 1997, the EPA proposed strengthening rules governing air pollution, regulating particles from coal plants and industrial plants which cause tens of thousands of premature deaths a year. Again, because Koch’s factories were impacted by the regulations, Koch-funded front groups sprung into action. Koch’s Citizens for a Sound Economy front group ran ads claiming (Koch Industries created) particle pollution isn’t harmful. One ad featured a ”pediatrician” who says increased rates of asthma are not caused by the toxic particles, but rather by “dust mites, stuff like that.” Another ad from CSE claimed the EPA regulations would ban fireworks and backyard grills. ”Imagine that,” the ad stated, ”a new government regulation that takes away our freedom to, huh, celebrate our freedom.”
– Koch funneled large amounts of donations into electing George Bush in 2000 (even sending Koch-linked lobbyists to help disrupt the Florida recount). At the time, Koch Industries faced a 97-count federal indictment charging it with concealing illegal releases of 91 metric tons of benzene, known to cause leukemia, from its refinery in Corpus Christi, Texas. When Bush took office, his Justice Department dropped 88 of the charges and settled the case for a small amount of money.
– As the Wonk Room’s Brad Johnson has reported, Koch Industries emits over 300 million tons of greenhouse gases a year. That is why, as a Greenpeace study has found, Koch Industries has pumped about $50 million into dozens of front groups denying the existence of climate change. To block EPA regulations of Koch’s carbon pollution, Koch fronts, like Americans for Prosperity, the Hot Air Tour, and the Regulation Reality Tour, have expanded their lobbying to children.
– Investigations by the Los Angeles Times and the Wonk Room have found that the House Republican push to neuter the EPA is largely coordinated by Koch lobbyists. Koch front groups helped elect the new Republican Congress, and have closely worked with the new Republican chair of the Energy and Commerce committee, Rep. Fred Upton (R-MI). Koch allies in Congress have passed amendments to gut the EPA’s power to regulate greenhouse gas emissions, enforce the Clean Air Act, and even monitor other air and water pollutants. They also cut funding for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
– One Koch front, the “No Climate Tax Pledge,” has successfully manipulated the Republican primary process by demanding that Republicans sign a pledge against supporting clean energy solutions. This pernicious political ploy, along with millions in Koch campaign donations, has resulted in the majority of the Republican caucus now doubting the science underpinning climate change.
– After a lobbying campaign waged by Koch fronts Americans for Prosperity, Competitive Enterprise Institute, Cato Institute, and others to stop federal action on climate change, Koch fronts have worked to decimate state-level efforts to curb carbon emissions. As ThinkProgress first reported, Koch fronts were at the forefront of an effort last year to repeal California’s landmark clean energy law. Currently, Koch fronts, including the State Policy Network and the American Legislative Exchange Council, are working to revoke the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative in New England.
– Koch Industries is one of the largest producers of formaldehyde, a chemical that “several major scientific studies have concluded” causes cancer in human beings. Koch’s conservative front groups have battled proposed regulations on formaldehyde, and David Koch used his position on the National Institutes of Health to try to stop the EPA from classifying it as a “known carcinogen” in humans.
Gov. Scott Walker’s (R-WI) demand that he be allowed to sell off Wisconsin’s state owned power plants with no-bid contracts has fueled suspicion that Koch Industries might take advantage of the deal, especially given Koch’s support for the Walker campaign and his current power grab. But the more dangerous Koch Industries kickback from Walker is likely to be from his administration’s approach to environmental regulations. Koch owns several Georgia Pacific plants along the Fox River near Green Bay. These plants are notorious for dumping thousands of pounds of toxic waste into the river, so it is discouraging that Walker’s administration has indicated that it will rollback environmental safeguards. If Walker allows Koch to pollute Wisconsin’s waterways, he is risking the lives and health of Wisconsin’s people.
In his book, the Science of Success, Charles pays tribute to libertarian scholar F.A. Hayek as one his role models. But Hayek famously wrote that pollution should be regulated not only for the “owner of the property in question or to those who are willing to submit to the damage,” but for society at large.
As one of the leading sources of carcinogenic chemicals and greenhouse gases, Koch’s financing of anti-regulation front groups is a back-door lobbying attempt to avoid having to pay for Koch Industries’ pollution. Refusing to pay for pollution is the core of the Koch business, and allows the company to make billions in illegitimate profits. Moreover, a business refusing to pay for its own pollution violates true libertarian principles.
How Koch Industries Makes Billions By Demanding Bailouts And Taxpayer Subsidies (Part 1)
Original Link: http://thinkprogress.org/2011/03/01/charles-koch-welfare/
By Lee Fang
Koch Industries, the international conglomerate owned by Charles and David Koch, is not only the second largest private company in America, it is the most politically active. As ThinkProgress has carefully documented over the last three years, Koch groups have spent tens of millions to influence government policy — from financing the Tea Parties, to funding junk academic studies, to undisclosed attack ads against Democrats, to groups promoting climate change denial, to a large network of state-based and national think tanks. In an opinion column for the Wall Street Journal today, Koch Industries CEO Charles Koch fired back at his critics, who have grown more vocal as it has become clear that Koch groups are providing the political muscle for Gov. Scott Walker’s (R-WI) union-busting power grab.
In his piece, Charles portrays himself as simply an ideological advocate, and says his money to political groups is only meant to “enhance true economic freedom.” He chides special interests that have “successfully lobbied for special favors,” claiming “crony capitalism is much easier than competing in an open market.” But in reality, the focus of the Koch political machine is geared towards “crony capitalism” — corrupting government to make Charles and his brother David Koch richer. Koch’s Tea Party libertarianism is actually a thin veneer for the company’s long running history of winning special deals from the government and manipulating the market to pad Koch profits:
– The dirty secret of Koch Industries is its birth under the centrally-planned Soviet Union. Fred Koch, the founder of the company and father of David and Charles, helped construct fifteen oil refineries for Joseph Stalin before expanding the business in the United States.
– As Yasha Levine has reported, Koch exploits a number of government programs for profit. For instance, Georgia Pacific, a timber company subsidiary of Koch Industries, uses taxpayer money provided by the U.S. Forestry Service to provide their loggers with taxpayer-funded roads and access to virgin growth forests. “Logging companies such as Georgia-Pacific strip lands bare, destroy vast acreages and pay only a small fee to the federal government in proportion to what they take from the public,” according to the Institute for Public Accuracy. Levine also notes that Koch’s cattle ranching company, Matador Cattle Company, uses a New Deal program to profit off federal land for free.
– Koch Industries won massive government contracts using their close relationship with the Bush administration. The Bush administration, in a deal even conservatives alleged was a quid pro quo because of Koch’s campaign donations, handed Koch Industries a lucrative contract to supply the nation’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve with 8 million barrels of crude oil. The SPR deal, done initially in 2002, was renewed in 2004 by Bush administration officials. During the occupation of Iraq, Koch won significant contracts to buy Iraqi crude oil.
– Although Koch campaigned vigorously against health reform — running attack ads, sponsoring anti-health reform Tea Parties, and comparing health reform to the Holocaust — Koch Industries applied for health reform subsidies made possible by the Obama administration.
– The Koch brothers have claimed that they oppose government intervention in the market, but Koch Industries lobbies aggressively for taxpayer handouts. In Alaska, blogger Andrew Halcro reported that a Koch subsidiary in Fairbanks asked Gov. Sarah Palin’s administration to use taxpayer money to bail out one of their failing refinery.
– SolveClimate recently reported that Koch Industries will reap huge profits from the proposed Keystone XL Pipeline, which runs from Koch-owned tar sands mining centers in Canada to Koch-owned refineries in Texas. To build the pipeline, politicians throughout the Midwest, many of whom have received large Koch campaign donations, have used eminent domain — government seizures of private land. In Kansas, where Koch-funded officials advise Gov. Sam Brownback (R-KS) and the Republican legislature, the Keystone XL Pipeline is likely to receive a property tax exemption of ten years, a special loophole that will cost Kansas taxpayers about $50 million.
– Koch Industries has been the recipient of about $85 million in federal government contracts mostly from the Department of Defense. Koch also benefits directly from billions in taxpayer subsidies for oil companies and ethanol production.
Charles has compared himself to a libertarian “Martin Luther,” evangelizing to the world for their supply side cause. However, the tens of millions in campaign donations and the dozens of front groups funded by Koch work in tandem to promoting the business interests of Koch Industries.
Koch funds both socially conservative groups and socially liberal groups. However, Koch’s financing of front groups and political organizations all have one thing in common: every single Koch group attacks workers’ rights, promotes deregulation, and argues for radical supply side economics. Not only do the Koch’s front groups pad Koch Industries’ bottom line, they supply the Koch brother’s talking points. In fact, for his opinion piece today, Charles heavily relied on front groups he finances for statistics. The “freedom index” cited by Charles is a creation of the Koch-funded Heritage Foundation, and the erroneous “unfunded liabilities” claim was supplied by the Koch-funded National Center for Policy Analysis.
By Lee Fang
Koch Industries, the international conglomerate owned by Charles and David Koch, is not only the second largest private company in America, it is the most politically active. As ThinkProgress has carefully documented over the last three years, Koch groups have spent tens of millions to influence government policy — from financing the Tea Parties, to funding junk academic studies, to undisclosed attack ads against Democrats, to groups promoting climate change denial, to a large network of state-based and national think tanks. In an opinion column for the Wall Street Journal today, Koch Industries CEO Charles Koch fired back at his critics, who have grown more vocal as it has become clear that Koch groups are providing the political muscle for Gov. Scott Walker’s (R-WI) union-busting power grab.
In his piece, Charles portrays himself as simply an ideological advocate, and says his money to political groups is only meant to “enhance true economic freedom.” He chides special interests that have “successfully lobbied for special favors,” claiming “crony capitalism is much easier than competing in an open market.” But in reality, the focus of the Koch political machine is geared towards “crony capitalism” — corrupting government to make Charles and his brother David Koch richer. Koch’s Tea Party libertarianism is actually a thin veneer for the company’s long running history of winning special deals from the government and manipulating the market to pad Koch profits:
– The dirty secret of Koch Industries is its birth under the centrally-planned Soviet Union. Fred Koch, the founder of the company and father of David and Charles, helped construct fifteen oil refineries for Joseph Stalin before expanding the business in the United States.
– As Yasha Levine has reported, Koch exploits a number of government programs for profit. For instance, Georgia Pacific, a timber company subsidiary of Koch Industries, uses taxpayer money provided by the U.S. Forestry Service to provide their loggers with taxpayer-funded roads and access to virgin growth forests. “Logging companies such as Georgia-Pacific strip lands bare, destroy vast acreages and pay only a small fee to the federal government in proportion to what they take from the public,” according to the Institute for Public Accuracy. Levine also notes that Koch’s cattle ranching company, Matador Cattle Company, uses a New Deal program to profit off federal land for free.
– Koch Industries won massive government contracts using their close relationship with the Bush administration. The Bush administration, in a deal even conservatives alleged was a quid pro quo because of Koch’s campaign donations, handed Koch Industries a lucrative contract to supply the nation’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve with 8 million barrels of crude oil. The SPR deal, done initially in 2002, was renewed in 2004 by Bush administration officials. During the occupation of Iraq, Koch won significant contracts to buy Iraqi crude oil.
– Although Koch campaigned vigorously against health reform — running attack ads, sponsoring anti-health reform Tea Parties, and comparing health reform to the Holocaust — Koch Industries applied for health reform subsidies made possible by the Obama administration.
– The Koch brothers have claimed that they oppose government intervention in the market, but Koch Industries lobbies aggressively for taxpayer handouts. In Alaska, blogger Andrew Halcro reported that a Koch subsidiary in Fairbanks asked Gov. Sarah Palin’s administration to use taxpayer money to bail out one of their failing refinery.
– SolveClimate recently reported that Koch Industries will reap huge profits from the proposed Keystone XL Pipeline, which runs from Koch-owned tar sands mining centers in Canada to Koch-owned refineries in Texas. To build the pipeline, politicians throughout the Midwest, many of whom have received large Koch campaign donations, have used eminent domain — government seizures of private land. In Kansas, where Koch-funded officials advise Gov. Sam Brownback (R-KS) and the Republican legislature, the Keystone XL Pipeline is likely to receive a property tax exemption of ten years, a special loophole that will cost Kansas taxpayers about $50 million.
– Koch Industries has been the recipient of about $85 million in federal government contracts mostly from the Department of Defense. Koch also benefits directly from billions in taxpayer subsidies for oil companies and ethanol production.
Charles has compared himself to a libertarian “Martin Luther,” evangelizing to the world for their supply side cause. However, the tens of millions in campaign donations and the dozens of front groups funded by Koch work in tandem to promoting the business interests of Koch Industries.
Koch funds both socially conservative groups and socially liberal groups. However, Koch’s financing of front groups and political organizations all have one thing in common: every single Koch group attacks workers’ rights, promotes deregulation, and argues for radical supply side economics. Not only do the Koch’s front groups pad Koch Industries’ bottom line, they supply the Koch brother’s talking points. In fact, for his opinion piece today, Charles heavily relied on front groups he finances for statistics. The “freedom index” cited by Charles is a creation of the Koch-funded Heritage Foundation, and the erroneous “unfunded liabilities” claim was supplied by the Koch-funded National Center for Policy Analysis.
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