Jim Hightower: Two Right-Wing Billionaire Brothers Are Remaking America for Their Own Benefit

[marmar]

via AlterNet:



Hightower Lowdown / By Jim Hightower

Hightower: Two Right-Wing Billionaire Brothers Are Remaking America for Their Own Benefit
How billionaires' money took over Washington -- and created the mobs who rant against reform.

March 19, 2010 |


Despite a constant racket from the forces of the far-out right (Fox television's yackety-yackers, just-say-no GOP know-nothings, tea-bag howlers, Sarah Palinistas, et al.), the great majority of Americans support a bold progressive agenda for our country, ranging from Medicare for all to the decentralization and re-regulation of Wall Street. Indeed, in the elections of 2006 and 2008, people voted for a fundamental break from Washington's 30-year push to enthrone a corporate kleptocracy.

Yet the economic and political thievery continues, as the White House, Congress, both parties, the courts, the media, much of academia, and other national institutions that shape our public policies reflexively shy away from any structural change. Instead, the first instinct of these entities is to soothe the fevered brow of corporate power by insisting that corporate primacy be the starting point of any "reform." Thus, when Washington began its widely ballyhooed effort last year to reform our health-care system, step number one was to announce publicly that the monopolistic, bureaucratic insurance behemoths that cost us so much and deliver so little would retain their controlling position in the structure. Likewise, Wall Street barons who crashed America's financial system were allowed to oversee the system's remake--and (Big Surprise!) the same top-heavy structure and shaky practices that caused the crash are being kept in place.

In other words, the foxes who ate the chickens keep being put in charge of designing the new hen house--so nothing really changes.

This is more than frustrating, it's infuriating --and it's debilitating for our democracy. As a fellow said to me about the lack of real changes in national policy during the Clinton presidency, "I don't mind losing when we lose, but I hate losing when we win." ...........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.alternet.org/investigations/146094/hightower%3A_two_right-wing_billionaire_brothers_are_remaking_america_for_their_own_benefit

[xchrom]

1. Recommend

[progressoid]

2. "I don't mind losing when we lose, but I hate losing when we win."

Great line. I know that feeling.

[pleah]

3. K&R

[Dont_Bogart_the_Pretzel]

4. Great read at link!

I think if we follow the money with Bush getting in the WH, it will lead to these the Koch brothers.

[depakid]

5. "I hate losing when we win."

[Union Yes]

6. Bust the fucking trusts! knr nt

[crikkett]

7. Who are the two right-wing billionaire brothers?

Your pasted fluff.

[Name removed]

10. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[hfojvt]

29. would it have been so hard for you two chuckleheads

to give the names of my uncles? Charlie and David.

"Charles and David Koch, who control this family-owned empire, are tied for a spot as the 19th-richest billionaire in the world, according to a 2009 ranking by Forbes. Each brother has a net worth of $14 billion, just below the wealth held by four heirs to the Wal-Mart fortune. Charles, 73, and David, 68, boast of being "self-made" billionaires. Actually, that's a fib, for they had a little help from Daddy. Fred Koch, who died in 1967, started his name-sake business after inventing a method of turning heavy oil into gasoline, and his sons got a leg up on their climb to billionairedom by inheriting Fred's company."

Given the title, that paragraph probably should have been included in the OP.

[mojowork_n]

35. Do you know who the guy in Oregon is,

the window manufacturer who has a vertically integrated set-up, starting with owning the lumber acreage, the sawmills, up through manufacturing facilities and sales outlets, that has also spent heavily on right-wing 'screw the poor/shrink government' causes?

[bnymellon sucks]

48. Koch Industries

Investing in politicians to gain wealth.

[Name removed]

22. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[midnight]

8. They come from entitlement programs via daddy...

Charles, 73, and David, 68, boast of being "self-made" billionaires. Actually, that's a fib, for they had a little help from Daddy. Fred Koch, who died in 1967, started his name-sake business after inventing a method of turning heavy oil into gasoline, and his sons got a leg up on their climb to billionairedom by inheriting Fred's company.

So the rich like entitlements only for them and those like them. The rest of us need to be aware that working people are not entitled to entitlement.

[proud2BlibKansan]

16. They are legendary here in Kansas

Hate these mother fuckers.

[formercia]

9. The Bush connection:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dorothy_Bush_Koch

Other interesting connections as well.

[truedelphi]

18. Thank you for posting. n/t

[hfojvt]

30. actually I have to object to that

There are something over 40,000 people with the last name Koch. Robert P. Koch, who married Dorothy Bush is not necessarily related to the dastardly duo any more than I am or my uncle Ed (former mayor of NYC (also not really my uncle)) is or nobel prize winner Robert Koch is, or Albert Einstein is (his mother's maiden name was Pauline Koch)

He might be, but so far I cannot find any proof.

[srf Rantz]

11. and these are just two.

the full article is a must read. Jim lists briefly a few of the other RW big money players.

while on the one hand its kind of a relief to know that these guys are really real and this is not just conspiracy nut stuff, on the other its pretty scary stuff, not to mention deeply disheartening.

If you were paying attention at all during the past 30 years you could see clearly that something like this HAD to be going on. It was an all out blitz for decades. And its working.

but I gotta ask one thing?

Why?

why do they do it? what do they hope to gain? how rich do they need to be? how powerful do they need to be?

they've managed to be super successful and richer than anyone could possibly ever need to be within the system as it was. even with all its "evil" New Deal "socialist" constraints. why the driving need to overt how that system and replace it with something so regressive?

consider all the money they've spent on this project, all the energy, all the effort.

why bother?

its not just greed. its not just power. its not even just ideology. what the fuck is it?

and the biggest why of all: with all the intellectual energy and thought and planning and plotting to pull this off, did they never stop to look at history and see that even should they succeed, and they are very close to that point now, it will only be a brief moment of triumph? can't they see that once there they will have to spend every ounce of their energy, all of their power and money and much much more to maintain such an inequitable balance of power? Can't they see that no matter how much they repress people and ideas and spew their propaganda, and bring misery and destitution upon millions and millions of people, forcing them into near slavery, that they will not be able to control them forever? Can they not even grasp the simple idea that if you impoverish the masses, the masses will no longer be able or willing to drive the material consumption needs upon which the free-market capitalist nirvana they long for depends? Do they really believe that they can indefinitely contain revolt without constant effort, energy and expense?

Conversely, can they not see that if they chose to serve the needs of the masses, keep them fat and happy, and well, nurture them and allow them to rise to their potential, that they in turn will be exalted and be able to maintain their own wealth and high standards of living without worry?

History is filled with examples of both choices, but sadly so many more of the first. Why do the they choose to attempt the former, again and again?

Hubris?

[YankmeCrankme]

15. Had to respond to you

good post. I have asked that question myself and can't figure it out. It just isn't in my makeup to want to control everything and everyone. Don't understand the need and like you said, it seems so much easier and more beneficial to help rather than oppress and control.

[defendandprotect]

27. Unfortunately, there are always some who want control over others . . .

and use violence and deception to gain it --

"The loveless crave power because they lack both love and self--"

Betty Friedan

"The human self defines itself and grows through love and work --

all psychology before and after Freud boils down to that."

Betty Friedan


I've always thought violence stemmed from self-hatred --

However, patriarchy and violence are mirror images of one another --

Patriarchy is underpinned by Organized patriarchal religion -- male supremacy.

Capitalism was invented by the Vatican.


Patriarchy is the "bird with one wing" -- and it is dangerously suicidal --

[Hardrada]

19. I've been asking (in vain alas) those exact same questions.

Why be king of the world when the world begins to dissolve after you have gotten it in your grasp?
There is something metaphysical about all this.

[think]

20. did someone say "Americans for Prosperity"?

http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Americans_for_Prosperity

[defendandprotect]

25. PLUS the right wing overt political violence since '63 ...

which is not to say that it hasn't been going on for tens of thousands of years!

That's the only way the right can really rise -- political violence, intimidation -

stolen elections.

We have to begin to understand that everything about the right wing is FAKED --

including the right wing religious movement ...

GOP gave start-up funding for the Christian Coalition in the '80's . . .

Scaife financed Dobson's organization -- and other right wing wealthy financed Bauer's organization.

US/CIA/right wing also created the Taliban/AlQaeda, financing it thru ISI-Pakistan --

used it to lure Soviets into Afghanistan -- US was in there six months before doing just that!

Further, US created the violent concept of the Muslim religion --

We shipped those books with the violent sayings into the ME to be taught to children.

We spread the violent Muslim "religion" into the ME --

More on that if anyone wants it!

Right wing wealty also financed all the right wing think tanks --

For cripes sake, even the GOP fascist rally outside Miami-Dade Election HQs was a well-financed

FAKE!


An excellent book by David Brock who turned against them --

My library has it . . . yours might, as well --

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=Republican+noise+machine+&x=13&y=20

[laughingliberal]

33. +1000 nt

[srf Rantz]

47. this is another answer to why?

interesting that I stumbled across this link today:

http://tinyurl.com/2g9y4b

have to get into it deeper but its basically the hypothesis that they are truly psychopaths, which I'm sure has crossed all our minds at some point.

especially if you know a little about Ayn Rand and how she considered that kind of person a "superman" and that it would take someone of that capability to pursue her agenda.

further study of the Kochs in particular makes it clear that they are full on Randians under the guise of "libertarian". the pieces fall together...

I've always felt that the key difference between "us" and "them" (leaving aside all and sundry political/socio-economic labels) is that "they" are incapable of empathy. or at least empathy-challenged. i.e. the guy mocking the parkinsons guy in the now famous video.

And of course the definition of a psychopath is someone for whom it is not possible to identify in any way with their "victims"

"Psychopathy is a personality disorder characterized by an abnormal lack of empathy combined with strongly amoral conduct, masked by an ability to appear outwardly normal."

[BrklynLiberal]

12. I want to hear from John Hightower more frequently!!!!

[CrispyQ]

13. He has a wonderful little monthly newletter called The Hightower Lowdown.

It's a quick read, but always packed full of great info! His cartoonist, M Wuerker, is fab! It's pretty cheap - like $12 a year. I bought a sub for my local library, too.

http://www.hightowerlowdown.org/

[BrklynLiberal]

43. Thanks. I used to get a newsletter from him, but it stopped.

Guess I overlooked renewing it.

[laughingliberal]

34. He's just a brilliant liberal Texan

One of the last of an amazing breed that included Ann Richards and Molly Ivins.

[Stinky The Clown]

14. How did I know it was them?

Shadowy figures.

[Jakes Progress]

17. When Jim talks, people need to listen. nt

[unapatriciated]

21. big K&R, the article is worth the read.

[lunasun]

23. does anyone have a list or link

to a list of the name products they own?? the article mentioned a few like ,BRAWNY and Dixie cups just wondering what else I can avoid so as not to add to their $$

[donheld]

26. check

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koch_Industries

[defendandprotect]

24. This is why we all have to understand the importance of "inheritance" taxes . . .

on wealthy --

the great majority of Americans support a bold progressive agenda for our country, ranging from Medicare for all to the decentralization and re-regulation of Wall Street. Indeed, in the elections of 2006 and 2008, people voted for a fundamental break from Washington's 30-year push to enthrone a corporate kleptocracy.

Correct -- this is a liberal nation overall --

Why don't election reflect that reality?

Because since the mid-and-late 1960's we've had computers screwing us --

coincidentally, that was just about the time America was passing "The Voting Rights Act" --

LARGE computers used by MSM began coming in during mid-1960's. Before that MSM could only

report ACTUAL official vote tallies. Yeah, they could discuss a bit re the tendency of certain

areas to vote in a specific way. But that was it.

The large computers gave them the ability to pretend they had a crystal ball --

they could now PREDICT and CALL elections. Quite a bit of new power!

Haven't read all of the article yet, but LOVE Hightower . . .

one of the people who can help you get your head screwed on right!

[Juche]

28. Wealthy liberals do the same thing

Read up on the democracy alliance, an organization made up of millionaires, billionaires and left wing organizations (unions, trial lawyer organizations, etc) that is working together to push progressive politics. They started out in Colorado and after taking over the state they are exporting the model to other states.




http://www.scribd.com/doc/21026078/The-Democracy-Alliance-Does-America

With last month’s election, the state will have two Democratic senators and
five out of the state’s seven House members will be Democrats. In 1998, the state had two Re-publican senators and four of the six House members were GOP, as well as the governor and both houses in the state legislature. Here is another measure of Democratic success: in 2000 George W. Bush won the state by 9%. In 2004 he won by 5%. But in 2008 Republican John McCain garnered only 44% of the state’s popular vote compared to 53% for Democrat Obama.




Not that I'm criticizing the DA, but there are billionaires trying to fund left wing movements too.

[diane in sf]

31. not so many, this is a false equivalency...

[fasttense]

37. Well, they certainly aren't making much of an impact in DC.

These supposed liberal uber wealthy seem to be making NO progress in DC or in the corporate media. If they are so powerful, how come they are so ineffective?

Or perhaps you are quoting a right wing neocon make-it-up-as-you-go-along, Glen Beck style source like Capital Research Center (CRC).

From the front page of your source:

"New Michelle Malkin Book "Culture of Corruption" Spotlights CRC Research

In her new book Culture of Corruption: Obama and his team of tax cheats, crooks, and cronies, bestselling author Michelle Malkin highlights the work of Capital Research Center and of its senior editor Matthew Vadum on ACORN."

They don't even pretend to be bipartisan. Why are you quoting useless RepubliCON talking points from a useless RepubliCON source?

[Juche]

40. Says who?

In the last 4 years the democratic party has gone from minority status in both houses to supermajorities with a mandate in the white house. MSNBC is becoming more and more liberal.

The DA was started because wealthy liberals realized that wealthy conservatives had been doing this for decades, and the liberals needed to catch up. So they used Colorado as a test state (my impression) then want to export the model to other states like Ohio, Wisconsin, etc.

I don't care if the website is partisan. I love how they are attacking the DA. If they weren't afraid of the DA they wouldn't attack them.

Paul Krugman once said the reason right wingers constantly attack a 'left wing conspiracy of wealthy liberals' like Soros is because they know that is what funds the right wing (wealthy conservatives) and they know it can be effective.

It is sad because we are basically just caught in a war between 2 groups of plutocrats. But liberals have wealthy people who are fighting for their causes too.

[srf Rantz]

39. one would hope so

Mark Cuban and George Soros come to mind. bless them!

and look at the endless flak they get from the RW noise machine.

if only there were more of them.

what's your point? you trying to trot out the lame old "Liberals are just as Bad" counter argument?

totally irrelevant. well...sort of...(sorry, don't mean to start a flame...I post as I think thru it)

the point of the Hightower article is to show us what we're up against, how far behind we are and what we need to do to try and protect ourselves.

more billionaires funding left wing movements, think tanks, coordinating efforts would be a good thing, IMHO.

not enough of them tho, and not enough to give us victory, much less even an edge at this point, but might slow the onslaught.

that said however, another issue entirely is money in politics in this country and how dangerous that is for democracy because most BIG money will protect big money against any and all threats, real or perceived.

the recent Citizens United SCOTUS decision was pretty much the final nail for this round.

so yes, you are right, money in politics is bad, big money is deadly. the catch 22 is we're not going to get it out without big money behind such a movement.

so basically, we're fucked.

but we do have history on our side as I touched on in a previous post. its just going to get a lot worse before it gets better.

[Juche]

41. My point is 2 wealthy conservative billionaires =/= we lose

That is the impression I got from the article, the fact that the Koch brothers are funding right wing orgs means the left wing is losing.

The left wing has its own wealthy individuals and organizations. And they are starting to organize.

I am happy the DA exists. I wish they had created it 20 years ago.

However a risk of groups like the DA is you will get progressive policy on everything except taxation. Progressive social and welfare state policy, but possibly conservative tax policy.

Either way, it is a problem since in either situation the wealthy would look out for their own interests.

[srf Rantz]

45. thanks for bucking me up

altho its not just the Kochs, it does seem sometimes that we are hopelessly outnumbered and way behind.

always good to have someone point out our gains. help keep ones hopes up.

thx.

[Zoeisright]

42. You are ignoring the crucial difference.

Liberals try to make the world better.

Repukes try to destroy it.

Try to think before you post, please.

[Juche]

44. Can you read?

Where did I say the DA was a bad thing? I love the DA. But this myth that all the billionaires are on the conservative side is just that, a myth.

If 2 billionaires on the conservative side (the Koch brothers) is going to be treated as a major threat to progressive agendas, then the fact that progressives have dozens of millionaires, billionaires and liberal organizations working together under the umbrella of the DA should make people feel better. But it should also show that a handful of billionaires cannot totally control the country.

Labor alone put 450 million into the 2008 election cycle. Not to mention millions of man hours. The Koch brothers have probably put under 100 million into politics in 30 years. This concept that a handful of conservative billionaires is some major threat doesn't scare me because of that. Labor alone puts more money into politics in one election cycle than dozens of conservative billionaires do in a decades.

Point is, liberals have our own billionaires.

[laughingliberal]

32. "insisting that corporate primacy be the starting point of any 'reform'"

There's your problem right there. Building all our reforms on the foundation of failed systems that continue to transfer the money...UP

[Hubert Flottz]

36. Why do the mobster class in Washington DC(Kleptocrats) hate America?

The small "Change" is in your bank account!

[20score]

38. Too late to rec.

[TygrBright]

46. Koches, I bet. A worse family of slimesacs never afflicted this poor, afflicted body politic. n/t

[Turborama]

49. AFP are the real "founding fathers" of the Teabaggers

Consider the boisterous "tea bag" rebellion. No one professes more hatred for the two-party, business-as-usual political system in Washington than those angry Americans who're caught up in the tea-bag rallies. Yet unbeknownst to most of the mad-as-hellers who have showed up, it was AFP's Republican-tied lobbyists and political functionaries who cynically financed, organized, and orchestrated the very first tea-bag protest. AFP has steadily coopted the tea-bag faction to make it a front for the corporate agenda, and many of the tea-bag groups have devolved into subsidiaries of the Republican party. Indeed, AFP has become the Astroturf-To-Go Store, fabricating and spreading fake grassroots organizations all across the country. It was especially busy during the 2008 presidential campaign and in the first year of Obama's presidency. Here are a few recent AFP-manufactured campaigns on major public-policy issues:

PATIENTS UNITED NOW. The website for PUN (odd choice for an acronym, huh?) proclaims, "We are people just like you." However, that statement is true only if you're one of the people working as paid political hacks for AFP. PUN is nothing but a shell created by AFP's laissez-faire corporate extremists. The goal of this front group is to kill legislation that would restructure the rip-off health-insurance industry so real patients can get fairly priced, quality care. In addition to running farcical, antireform TV ads under PUN's name, the AFP-directed effort has included a "Hands Off My Health Care" bus tour. Its message wasn't subtle--a giant bloody hand was painted on the side of the bus, and a speaker traveling with the group repeatedly compared the Democrats' health-reform plans to the Holocaust.

HOT-AIR TOUR. During the past two years, people in 40 cities have been greeted by the sight of a 70-foot-tall hot-air balloon drifting over them. It heralded the arrival of a barnstorming tour to expose "the ballooning costs of global warming hysteria." This stunt had a just-folks veneer on it, but it was another AFP production--after all, as owners of the largest privately held oil corporation, the Koch brothers have a special interest in spreading denial about the existence of climate change. AFP ran ads mocking proponents of fossilfuel regulations as elitist brats more concerned about their "three homes and five cars" than about the jobs of working-class families (an incredible rhetorical gusher from a privileged billionaire like David, who lives the high life in Manhattan, where he hobnobs with the richest elites at society galas, while also owning a mansion in Aspen where he can curl up in luxury and sip fine wine from his collection of 5,000 vintage bottles). Perhaps he was tipsy on some of those grapes last fall when he attended an AFP summit of tea-party leaders and personally embraced the histrionics of a climate-denial film that accuses such leaders as Al Gore of wanting to bring back "the Dark Ages and the Black Plague."

Among AFP's other fronts are: FREE OUR ENERGY, which clamored during the 2008 election season to open up our seashores and national parks to oil drillers; NO STIMULUS, which tried to rev up the tea-party network last year to kill Obama's economic-recovery plan; and SAVE MY BALLOT, yet another "grassroots tour," this one to rail against a proposal to stop corporate intimidation of workers trying to unionize (AFP paid Joe the Plumber to front this smear campaign).

More in the main article: http://www.alternet.org/investigations/146094/hightower:_two_right-wing_billionaire_brothers_are_remaking_america_for_their_own_benefit?page=entire

They were also behind the Van Jones' smear campaign which resulted in him having to 'resign': http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=103&topic_id=478881&mesg_id=478881">Big Business' Hidden Hand in the Smear Job on Van Jones