Charles Koch's hypocrisy on "crony capitalism and bloated government"

[ProSense]

Here is the tag link from Charles Koch's WSJ op-ed: Crony capitalism and bloated government prevent entrepreneurs from producing the products and services that make people's lives better.

This from a slimeball who donated heavily to ensure Bush two terms.

Jane Mayer: Covert Operations: The billionaire brothers who are waging a war against Obama.

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During the Clinton Administration, the energy industry faced increased scrutiny and regulation. In the mid-nineties, the Justice Department filed two lawsuits against Koch Industries, claiming that it was responsible for more than three hundred oil spills, which had released an estimated three million gallons of oil into lakes and rivers. The penalty was potentially as high as two hundred and fourteen million dollars. In a settlement, Koch Industries paid a record thirty-million-dollar civil fine, and agreed to spend five million dollars on environmental projects.

In 1999, a jury found Koch Industries guilty of negligence and malice in the deaths of two Texas teen-agers in an explosion that resulted from a leaky underground butane pipeline. (In 2001, the company paid an undisclosed settlement.) And in the final months of the Clinton Presidency the Justice Department levelled a ninety-seven-count indictment against the company, for covering up the discharge of ninety-one tons of benzene, a carcinogen, from its refinery in Corpus Christi, Texas. The company was liable for three hundred and fifty million dollars in fines, and four Koch employees faced up to thirty-five years in prison. The Koch Petroleum Group eventually pleaded guilty to one criminal charge of covering up environmental violations, including the falsification of documents, and paid a twenty-million-dollar fine. David Uhlmann, a career prosecutor who, at the time, headed the environmental-crimes section at the Justice Department, described the suit as “one of the most significant cases ever brought under the Clean Air Act.” He added, “Environmental crimes are almost always motivated by economics and arrogance, and in the Koch case there was a healthy dose of both.”

During the 2000 election campaign, Koch Industries spent some nine hundred thousand dollars to support the candidacies of George W. Bush and other Republicans. During the Bush years, Koch Industries and other fossil-fuel companies enjoyed remarkable prosperity. The 2005 energy bill, which Hillary Clinton dubbed the Dick Cheney Lobbyist Energy Bill, offered enormous subsidies and tax breaks for energy companies. The Kochs have cast themselves as deficit hawks, but, according to a study by Media Matters, their companies have benefitted from nearly a hundred million dollars in government contracts since 2000.

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Koch’s corporate and political roles, however, may pose conflicts of interest. For example, at the same time that David Koch has been casting himself as a champion in the fight against cancer, Koch Industries has been lobbying to prevent the E.P.A. from classifying formaldehyde, which the company produces in great quantities, as a “known carcinogen” in humans.

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[ProSense]

1. Krugman: Not Enough Bureaucrats

Krugman: Not Enough Bureaucrats

There’s a new article in the Washington Monthly making the point that we need federal bureaucrats to manage spending, including spending on private contractors, and that understaffing the government — which we’re doing already, and will do more of if the right gets its way — actually increases the deficit. I agree. And with perfect timing, we have a new report finding that tens of billions have been wasted on undersupervised contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan.

What’s happened in American political discourse is that constant repetition has drilled in the message that government officials are always engaged in pointless activity, and that private is always better — even if you’re hiring private contractors to do government work, which means that there’s no market competition. None of this is true. Federal offices, in my experience, are quite thinly staffed and overstretched, despite having very real jobs to do. And the experience with outsourcing to contractors has been mixed to bad across the board.

The thing is, any private corporation would have no trouble understanding the argument that you need more auditing, more supervision, to keep costs under control. But when it comes to government, the myth of the useless bureaucrat persists. Of course, that’s the way the contractors like it.

The Koch brothers are labeled anti-war. Did they fund anti-war protests? How did they pressure Bush to end the war?

They're as anti-war as Rand Paul, which is not an actual anti-war position, but an anti-government one.

[ProSense]

2. Kick. n/t

[lovuian]

3. this is a war against ALL Workers

and the working class

[Historic NY]

4. K&R

[Uncle Joe]

5. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, ProSense.

[ProSense]

6. Thanks.

The irony of billionaires whining about a lack of opportunity.

They're not complaining that the system is stacked against low- to middle-income Americans. No, the Koch brothers are complaining that life is unfair because government is standing in the way of them amassing more billions.

From the Koch's op-ed:

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Because every other company in a given industry is accepting market-distorting programs, Koch companies have had little option but to do so as well, simply to remain competitive and help sustain our 50,000 U.S.-based jobs. However, even when such policies benefit us, we only support the policies that enhance true economic freedom.

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I am confident that businesses like ours will hire more people and invest in more equipment when our country's financial future looks more promising. Laying the groundwork for smaller, smarter government, especially at the federal level, is going to be tough. But it is essential for getting us back on the path to long-term prosperity.

Summary: Cut goverment spending and kill regulations or there will be no jobs!

Despicable creep.

[Uncle Joe]

7. I believe they're addicted to money and power, their thirst can never be quenched and

their appetites never satisfied.

[Tsiyu]

8. The Kochroach Brothers are the face of crony capitalism

In my encyclopedia, next to the entry for crony capitalism, is a mugshot of Charles and David...I swear!


The caption says they continually make munching and groaning noises like Jabba the Hut; in fact, Jabba is their favorite role model


"More More More for us!!!!!!!! NOTHING for you peons!!!!!"