THE KOCH BROTHERS:
I'll TAKE THEM OVER GEORGE SORROS
ANY DAY OF THE WEEK
George W. Bush has been retired as the
most despised villain and the cause of all the evils that plague the
world. Bush has been replaced by the Koch (a Dutch name, pronounced
“Coke”) brothers, who are often maligned by the left for their pecuniary
influence in politics. Since those on the left are not equally
malevolent toward George Soros, who does the same thing, it’s clearly
not the money in politics that bothers them — it’s the ideology.
The Washington Post’s Pulitzer Prize winning Fact Check granted a
“Four Pinocchio” rating to Reid’s latest round of attacks. The Post says
Reid is “setting a high standard for deceptive speech,” and concludes
that Reid’s party is “reaching blindly” for someone to cast the blame of
their own failures on. The paper, critical of the falsity of Reid’s
claim, chides him with, “If you want to join a gun fight, don’t fire
blanks.”
FOR MORE DETAILS ON GEORGE SORROS PLEASE READ HERE:
http://john-gaultier.blogspot.com/2012/07/great-detailed-read-on-george-sorrosthe.html
David and Charles Koch are brothers who run Koch Industries, an oil
refinery business that is the second largest private firm in the
country. The brothers are tied at number 6 on Forbes top billionaires
list with personal net worth of about $41 billion each. They’ve expanded
and maintained their fortunes by successfully providing the refined
product that keeps America moving – oil.
George Soros is chairman of Soros Fund Management, a hedge fund
company. Soros is number 27 on Forbes list with a net worth of $23
billion. He’s made his fortune in large part by selling short against
international currencies and collapsing financial institutions. In 1997,
he was dubbed “the man who broke the Bank of England”; and he was
blamed by the Malaysian Prime Minister for collapsing their currency
during the Asian financial crisis. He was also convicted of illegal
financial dealings in France. His big bet now is collapsing the U.S.
dollar and the free enterprise system.
Economist Paul Krugman has been critical of Soros and others like
him, “who not only move money in anticipation of a currency crisis, but
actually do their best to trigger that crisis for fun and profit. These
new actors on the scene do not yet have a standard name; my proposed
term is ‘Soroi’.”
The Koch brothers and Soros spend lavishly in politics. They support
individual candidates, contribute to political party campaign funds,
lobby politicians, bankroll political action committees, and have
established foundations and think tanks to influence politics.
The Kochs spend by far the most, but the bulk of it goes to lobbying.
The Open Society Institute is one of George Soros’ organizations, and
they provide part of the funding of OpenSecrets.org; so even realizing
that their data may be skewed toward a more pejorative coverage of the
Kochs, I’m going to rely on their data. According to Open Secrets, the
Koch brothers have spent (or as liberals typically describe it,
“invested”) over $50 million in lobbying from 1998-2010. During that
same time, Soros and his primary Lobbying organization, the Open Society
Policy Center, spent about $13 million.
Donations to federal candidates, parties, and political action
committees give a smaller advantage to the Kochs. They invested $2.58
million vs. Soros’ $1.74 million from 1989 to 2010. When extended to
include the past four years, the Koch brothers have contributed $18
million in political donations. This sounds like a great number, until
we look at the 58 organizations ahead of them, including 18 different
unions, according to Open Secrets. Those unions’ political contributions
total over $638 million, almost all of whose funds go to liberal
candidates, and is more than 35 times what the Kochs donate. Among those
are the American Federation of State, County, & Municipal Employees
($60,667,379), the National Education Association ($53,594,488), the
United Auto Workers ($41,667,858), and the Service Employees
International Union ($38,395,690.)
But from here, the money for political influence gets a little more
shady. From 2001 to 2010, the Koch brothers invested $1.5 million in
other political groups, called 527 organizations, compared to Soros’
whopping $32.5 million.
The proliferation and expanded influence of 527s was made possible by
the problematic McCain-Feingold Campaign Finance Reform of 2002, so
named because of the tax code, Section 527, that they fall under. As
described by Benjamin Dangl, the groups “operate as shadow political
campaigns working indirectly for or against a particular candidate.”
Once contributed funds get to these groups, they can go anywhere; and
the audit trail is virtually non-existent. Some are run totally above
board and are very straightforward in their objectives. Many others are
not. As Dangl says, “Prominent think tanks and campaign finance reform
lobbyists say 527s are ‘illegal loopholes’ that enable the privatization
of political campaigns.”
The groups that these men contribute to tell an even more significant
tale than the sheer dollar volume they pump into our dysfunctional
crony-capitalist, or corporatist, political system. Since the Koch
brothers are ideological libertarians, they’re driven by the
classical-liberal Jeffersonian philosophy that America was founded on.
Perhaps nothing defines this self-defined mission for the brothers
better than the mission statement on the Cato Institute website, which
states, “The mission of the Cato Institute is to originate, disseminate,
and increase understanding of public policies based on the principles
of individual liberty, limited government, free markets, and peace.”
The Cato Institute, the Koch’s crown jewel, was established 40 years
ago with seed money from Charles Koch, and his brother David still
serves on the Board of the organization. Cato is recognized as the sixth
most influential think tank in the nation, and number 14
internationally, with its scholarly and empirically documented research.
They also have contributed significantly to the Reason Foundation,
publisher of Reason Magazine, applying reason and logic to economic and
personal liberty issues. Nobel laureate Milton Friedman strongly
supported the Foundation. And with a grant of $30 million, the Koch
brothers were instrumental in the establishment of the Mercatus Center
at George Mason University, with similar objectives.
George Soros runs the Open Society Institute and the Soros.org
website; and he contributes heavily to many organizations that
ideologically are aligned with leftist causes, including Moveon.org. He
is reviled abroad for his shady efforts to foment revolution and
collapse currencies. His foundations have been accused of shielding
spies and breaking currency laws, and he’s invested over $400 million in
institutions of higher education to promulgate and teach his extremist
ideology.
In short, the Kochs and Soros are heavily invested in politics and
are, by all standards, prototypical “one percenters” in income, net
worth, and political influence. And it would appear, at least
ostensibly, that all three are playing the influence-for-money game
according to the rules established by Congress. There is near universal
contempt for the crony capitalism and corrupt corporatism that has
tainted our political institutions and politicians (and adulterated our
free-market system). But Congress has created the rules these players
play by. Blaming the Kochs and Soros for using their resources to buy
influence is like blaming collegiate athletes for the rules established
by the NCAA.
Since most of the Koch’s political money goes into lobbying, their
funds are well documented, as required by congressional accounting
rules. With most of Soros’ political “investments” going into 527s, the
funds are less traceable and has earned Soros the dubious honor of being
dubbed the “Godfather to the left.”
The classical-liberal principles of individual freedom and free
markets that are so fully embraced and advanced by Charles and David
Koch are the very principles the nation was founded upon. They are the
principles that made America great. The progressive socialistic agenda
advanced by Soros is antithetical to America’s founding precepts; and it
is heavily invested in the failure of not only the U.S. dollar, but the
collapse of the U.S. economic system.
As distasteful as the pay-for-influence system is, the ideological
objectives and uses of that influence should be of even greater concern.
Should we fear those who support the ideals that made America great, or
the one who seeks to destroy and fundamentally transform the country?
SO
SORROS OR KOCHS ??
ANTI AMERICA OR PRO AMERICA!
THE CHOICE IS THAT SIMPLE!!
THE UNIONS AND THE SOCIALIST OLIGARCHY AND SORROS ARE ANTI THE AMERICA I WANT!
IF WE CANNOT AGREE I SUGGEST A SPLIT!
A DIVORCE..
YOU TAKE YOUR SORROS, YOUR UNIONS AND YOUR SOCIALIST IDEOLOGY.. AND TAKE A PART OF THE COUNTRY AND WATCH YOUR GANG RUN IT INTO THE GROUND LIKE THEY DID IN RHODESIA..
( THEY CALL IT BANKRUPT ZIMBABWE NOW!!)
WE'LL GROW THE REST INTO A REAL GLOBAL POWER AND ECONOMIC POWER HOUSE!!
