Have
A Koch And A Smile
By Jason Miller
28 April, 2006
Countercurrents.org
So long as the markets are free
and the rich stay that way, human suffering and environmental devastation
are irrelevant. Beneath the “feel good” facade of baseball,
apple-pie, mom, and Chevrolet lurks this sinister reality of the American
Way.
Much of humanity is shackled
by poverty and besieged by the violence of war. Earth is experiencing
a slow, agonizing death. Animal and plant species are disappearing at
an alarming rate. Despite these tragic and inevitable consequences,
the United States persists in spreading the cancers of Americanized
Capitalism and Democracy.
Here's to Saint Charles
America’s wealthiest
owe a significant debt of gratitude to their patron saint, Charles G.
Koch. Mr. Koch’s Herculean efforts have virtually ensured that
the United States’ plutocracy and its complimentary corporatocracy
will continue their reign in America’s highly dysfunctional democracy.
Blessed with a significant number of Americans still rendered somnambulant
by a mass media machine, Koch and his fellow patricians are riding high.
Mr. Koch has virtually endless
resources at his disposal to keep “his people” in power.
Charles owns 40% of the shares of the largest privately held company
in the world. Koch Enterprises generated revenues of $40 billion in
2004. Koch recently acquired gargantuan lumber and paper producer Georgia
Pacific, which significantly expands his empire of oil, pipeline, fiber,
and chemical enterprises. By shunning public sale of Koch Enterprise
stock, Charles Koch has maintained a tight-fisted grip on his company
while cloaking its finances behind a veil of secrecy.
It's in their blue
blood
Causes enhancing the power
of America’s Capitalist elites are a Koch clan obsession. They
live to pursue lower taxes on corporations and the wealthy, shifting
the burden of subsidizing America’s burgeoning military, oil,
pharma, and prison industrial complexes to the middle class and poor.
As they press to defang consumer,
labor and environmental protection laws to shelter corporations from
liability and increase their profit-making capacity, the Koch family
vigorously toils to enhance corporate power.
Consider that Fred Koch,
Charles’s father, was a charter member of the John Birch Society,
which pushed for the repeal of income taxes and civil rights legislation.
Practicing a racist agenda on behalf of the White wealthy elite, the
JBS was formed on the pretext of fighting Communism. Fred’s interest
in the JBS allegedly stemmed from having witnessed the Purges under
Stalin in the 1930’s. Despite his concern for Stalin’s victims,
Fred still remained in Russia to make money by upgrading Communist oil
refineries. A true Capitalist.
Happiness is not
for sale, but in America,
power and influence are
David Koch, Charles’
brother, founded the Cato Institute in 1977 and was a presidential candidate
in 1980 as a Libertarian. Charles, David and Cato are no friends to
America’s working class or minorities. Staunch supporters of social
security privatization and property rights, Cato strongly opposes affirmative
action and government regulation. With such an obviously biased agenda,
it is rather curious that the “liberal” mainstream media
often cites Cato as a neutral source.
In 1996, the Cato Institute
itself wrote:
"Dozens of huge corporations,
eager to roll back government regulatory powers, are among Cato's largest
donors."
With the backing of one of
the wealthiest families in America, Koch Family Foundations provides
funding to several think tanks similar to Cato, each of which “nobly”
crusades for the rights of the “oppressed” upper class and
fights for the freedom of corporate America.
According to the Nation (in
a 1996 article documenting Bob Dole’s incestuous relationship
with the Koch group) the reverse Robin Hoods from Wichita, Kansas have
"lavished tens of millions of dollars in the past decade on 'free
market' advocacy institutions in and around Washington."
In 2004, Koch Industries
made $587,000 in campaign donations, more than any other oil company.
From 1998 to 2004 the Koch family and its enterprises gave $3.9 million
in political contributions. Compare that to the $3.8 million contributed
by Exxon Mobile, which is six times the size of Koch. During that same
period, the Koch boys spent $2.4 million lobbying Congress to pass “humanitarian”
legislation that would repeal the estate tax and significantly reduce
the capacity of consumers to sue.
Particularly noteworthy is
the fact that 79% of Koch’s campaign funding in 2004 went to Republicans,
including $121,000 to Todd Tiahrt, the US Congressman representing Wichita
(where Koch Enterprises is head-quartered); $109,000 to George Bush;
and $53,000 to the Hammer, Tom DeLay. Evidently Charles and David forgot
that one is often judged by the company one keeps. Or perhaps they simply
don’t care.
For people with such a professed
aversion to government, it seems a bit odd that Charles Koch and kin
would part with their beloved greenbacks so readily to participate in
political activities. Slicing through their rhetoric, it appears they
are far more interested in manipulating the United States government
than in minimizing it.
In 1996, Triad Management,
a shell corporation with little purpose or substance, began influencing
federal elections by airing attack ads. Since Triad did not publicly
disclose the source of its funding, wealthy individuals could exceed
legal limits on campaign contributions by donating to Triad. In essence,
Triad was a vehicle for laundering money.
One of its chief beneficiaries
was Kansas Senator Sam Brownback, who defeated Jill Docking in the 1996
Senatorial race with a Triad-financed anti-Semitic ad campaign. Evidence
indicates that Koch was Brownback’s primary financier, through
Triad of course. In exchange, Brownback has represented Koch interests
so well that he has earned a 100% rating from the Cato Institute.
Of major theft, environmental
crime, and wrongful death
In their relentless pursuit
of the sacred tenets of free markets and deregulation, the Koch brothers
and their multi-tentacled corporate entities have committed several
egregiously immoral and criminal acts. Fortunately for Charles and David,
the Gods of Capitalism have smiled upon them. Leaving carcinogenic pollutants
and death in its wake, Koch Enterprises has emerged relatively unscathed.
In 2000, Bill Koch, another
of Fred’s sons, appeared on 60 Minutes II and characterized Koch
Enterprises like this:
"It was – was
my family company. I was out of it," he says. "But that’s
what appalled me so much... I did not want my family, my legacy, my
father’s legacy to be based upon organized crime."
When he made that statement,
Bill Koch had already parted ways with his brothers and filed a federal
lawsuit alleging that much of Koch Industry’s oil profit was derived
from theft and fraud. In December of 1999 a jury decided that Koch stole
oil 24,000 times by “adjusting” the volume they had collected.
Koch’s own records showed that their “adjustments for errors”
translated into at least 300 million gallons of oil in their favor.
Koch Industries eventually settled the suit for $25 million.
Koch Industries has the largest
network of gas and oil pipelines in the United States. Quite an achievement.
Unfortunately, Koch chose increased profits over the environment. In
2000, it paid $30 million for violating federal environmental laws.
Koch had caused over 300 oil spills in seven states because it didn’t
maintain its pipelines properly.
In 1996, Danielle Smalley
and Jason Stone died tragically before they reached their twentieth
birthdays. These Texas teens were in the vicinity of a Koch high-pressure
gas line that was leaking when it suddenly exploded. Danielle and Jason
were incinerated, their bodies burned beyond recognition. Danielle’s
family won a $296 million wrongful death judgment as a result of Koch’s
criminal negligence. Koch eventually paid the Smalleys an undisclosed
settlement.
Does Bill Koch think about
the charred remains of Danielle and Jason when he writes checks to Cato
and its ilk?
Bill Koch again captured
the essence of Koch when he commented:
"Koch Industries has
a philosophy that profits are above everything else."
As the 2000 election approached,
the Koch brothers’ political contributions proved to be money
very well spent. It seems that the Koch conglomerate had dumped 91 metric
tons of benzene, a cancer-causing agent, near its refinery in Corpus
Christi. They added insult to injury by attempting to conceal their
crime. Facing a 97 count indictment, possible prison time for company
executives, and potential fines of $352 million, Charles and David needed
a “white knight” to ride to their rescue.
Enter George Bush, who “won”
the election with the aid of $800,000 worth of Koch donations. Striking
a blow for the free market, Attorney General Ashcroft dropped almost
all of the charges. Koch Industries pled guilty to falsifying documents
and paid a settlement of a mere $20 million. No one served jail time.
Putting outsiders
in and bringing insiders out
To ensure the continued success
of their malignant influence on the United States government, in 2005
Koch hired a “Beltway insider”. Matt Schlapp became their
director of Washington lobbying. Schlapp had been working in the White
House’s Office of Political Affairs.
Disturbingly, Elizabeth Stolpe,
a former Koch lobbyist, now holds a significant position on the White
House Council on Environmental Quality. Another former Koch employee,
Alex Beehler (who reported to David Koch), exerts influence on federal
environmental policy from his position with Environment, Safety and
Occupational Health.
Charles Koch has covered
his political bets going both ways. Very impressive, in a Machiavellian
way.
A criminal by any
other name...
Charles Koch also gets an
“A” for somehow manufacturing a respectable public image.
On 3/13/06 Forbes ran a story about Koch entitled "Mr. Big".
Much to the discredit of the publication, Forbes writer Daniel Fisher
focused almost exclusively on the buyout of Georgia Pacific and the
“Capitalistic virtues” of Charles Koch, a man who belongs
in prison.
Charles Koch is indeed an
“American success story” by the measure of those who still
believe in the real American Way, which is the suffering of the many
for the pleasure of the few.
For those who know the American
Dream is a nightmare, Charles Koch puts a human face on the ruthlessness
of Capitalism as it is practiced in the United States. Born into America’s
de facto aristocracy, Koch is one of the privileged top 1% of Americans
who hold a significant portion of the world’s wealth.
While the poor and working
class of the world bleed, sweat, cry, and die to keep the money flowing
from the spigot for such men, Koch, his friends, and his progeny reside
comfortably in their secure castles and counting houses.
No wonder Mr. Big smiled
so brightly for the Forbes photo.
Jason Miller
is a 39 year old sociopolitical essayist with a degree in liberal arts
and an extensive self-education (derived from an insatiable appetite
for reading). He is a member of Amnesty International and an avid supporter
of Oxfam International and Human Rights Watch. He welcomes responses
at [email protected]
or comments on his blog, Thomas Paine's Corner, at http://civillibertarian.blogspot.com/.