Billionaire Charles Koch, who will turn 88 on November 1, is funneling his wealth into two secretive organizations that can continue his right-wing political advocacy for years. Koch structured more than $5 billion in donations to exploit a loophole to allow him to avoid paying capital gains or gift taxes. It's not surprising that Koch is familiar with the loophole — he spent hundreds of thousands of dollars lobbying to create it.
So this is how the billionaires keep all there money and make the rest of us pay their bills. They've been working on their oligarchy for long time and they have apparently bought the Congress and the Senate to do their bidding. Their government, their education system, mostly just for them, their way or the highway.
And, after studying histories, we learn how we destroy our governments. And, now, we're learning how we've been destroying the entire physical planet...
Work has kept me hopping. My second quit (with my blessings) but damn its been difficult without her. I've missed days and days of PI and I hate it! Missed you too Valerie and I hope to maintain a stronger presence next week.
Money talks, bullshit walks. What’s a mere 200k to five billion? Disheartening.
This is yet another tax rescinded that rarely impacts people in aggregate terms. However? Cumulatively, it both strips money from the government that could benefit so many ordinary United States citizens, and simultaneously further poisons United States democracy.
Remember how the IRS, Holder and Obama were villainized for investigating conservative non-profits for exploiting the tax exempt loopholes? I remember so deeply how my conservative brother was enraged that he was being "investigated" for donating to TEA Party groups.
No amount of explanation was going to calm his nerves. He is pro-choice and is mad as hell about the anti-abortion laws, but will still vote for the fascists. I am speechless. He was not raised that way. He votes to protect his "property" (money).
Seems that these wealthy crooks (Koch is one) have all these experts around them helping them make decisions for them while they expect the rest of us to experts in everything like good consumers of healthcare, education. I cannot help but think of Peter Theil and how he exploited the Roth IRA to build his billionaire fortune. That Roth idea that was designed to help the average American build a nest egg for retirement.
I have--had--a sister who was a staunch Trumpanzee in Arizona. It all came down to protecting her small, successful business. She really identified with the Billionaires! Her money was hers and she believed she didn’t owe anything to the institutions that helped her develop that business and to keep it going. Education? Fuck them! Transportation networks? Fuck them! Healthcare for citizens? Vaccines? Public Health? Fuck them all. What was hers was hers and, of course, she resented any success she perceived by me or my husband. She and tRump saw our service in the military as sign of suckers.
This is what they talk about when people mention social narcissism. “Libertarianism” is another cynical word made up by Charles Koch to describe those who have absolutely no sense of duty, patriotism, gratitude or regard for the greater good; libertarianism is a celebration of “Me! Me! Me!”
My brother served in the Air Force for 22 years and then in the defense industry (3 different corporations) until retirement. He has pensions from all 4, Tri-care health insurance and VA benefits, attended college (undergrad and Masters) on the government dime, shopped at PX, lived on(subsidized) base housing at times, and receives numerous discounts on insurance, hotel stays, travel, etc as a veteran. He rages against the “nanny state” and social welfare programs as “leftist” “Marxist” ideology. It seems that for some, once they’ve gotten theirs, to hell with the rest of humanity.
I empathize with having a relative who has "irrational" sympathies! Fear is a huge motivator, and we all have different (irrational) fears.
My reason for responding...has anyone written a book to reveal this "deep state"? [ e.g., DEEP STATE, a detailed description of who and what that actually is...]
The 1% has carefully planned the takeover and we see funded it with the permission of the US government from the origins to the tax loopholes. Citizens United approval set the wheels to Warp speed.
On a naive note, I had hoped when Koch the elder died, it would end. I guess Chase Koch is just like his Dad.
The dark side continues on.
I don't know if we can regain our balance as a country. Great article.
Cathy, I must point out that many of these laws were passed against the advice of the government civil service people. Those very same "deep state" that conservatives and libertarians hate so much because they take their service seriously to the citizens. These laws are enacted by the elected officials and the civil servants have to enforce them. Get the money out of the elections. Term limits will not matter until we do. David Pepper wrote a book about Ohio politics that proves that.
It’s not “the 1%”--it is the “0.1%”--and most of those are organized under the KKKoch Gang of Billionaire Neo Nazi fascist thugs tearing down this democracy.
The term 1% covered by Occupy Wall Street in the mid 2010s referred to the top earners, not just billionaires. Smart Asset defined in 2020 as people who earn over 600,000 per year. There are 700 billionaires in the US and 21 million who earn over 600,000k included in the definition of 1%. But I agree the ones with the mist money carry the biggest problem I. Politics.
These corrupt bastards will steal everything from us, including our humanity. I have had enough and I will not stand by quietly as this stupidity continues to play out. If all of us become involved in our collective futures we will prevail!
Read Kochland to understand how the Kochs looked on the surface like the law biding corporation while behind the scenes found ways to get around every law possible. Why? If it affected profit, the law had to go.
It's called a revolution/world war/government incursion/take over and has been tried multiple times and has failed. The core failure has been the weakness of the general population to resit greed and power over others which leads to corruption due to a lack of understanding the bigger picture of long term ethical behavior. Perhaps we will evolve to the point where we understand why, how and a better way to behave...but I don't see that happening.
The only way to take back control is to control the flow of money.
They need $'s to control their world...if we redirect the dollars to any alternative avenue, they will be starved of the means by which they control events around them.
Tough to do unless you can live off grid and selective purchase the basics necessary for survival as opposed to $200 Nike sneakers, Apple watches and Tesla's.
Exactly Henry! The strategy for the wealthy since Reagan "starve the beast". The conservatives took the strategy to cut nothing but taxes. Everyone loves tax cuts, but resist program cuts. They then complain about the deficit they created.
The School Voucher program is the next action to destroy a public institution. As the funding for public schools continues to flow toward charter and private schools (parent choice), the need to collect public dollars for education will be unnecessary. That will result in the opportunity for more tax cuts. All these middle class people that are currently using vouchers will then be on the hook to pay for the entire private school tuition. You got to know the end game. Democracy in Chains - Nancy MacLean.
Knowing the end game is critical...too many don't want to think that far ahead or are to lazy to. It's never just the cost or savings going into any program... it's the cost, over time, both socially and financially.... as the 2 are inseparable.
Almost impossible if you are dependent upon the companies these mopes run. I am a transplant survivor and there is no way I can survive without my dope. There is no such thing as "off the grid" for folks like me. Maybe younger folken can lead the way.
Most solar households also use the electric grid. Even TX gets a sizable portion of its power from solar & wind. Maybe things are changing despite the billionaires. A small electric company in VT is broadening its approach.
“ By upgrading some power lines to make them more resistant to falling trees, putting other lines underground and giving more people in rural areas free backup storage systems such as Tesla Powerwalls, the utility hopes to make outages a thing of the past. It’s calling the push the Zero Outages Initiative, which the company hopes to achieve by 2030.”
History tells us there needs to be a “peasant revolt”--Jacqueries surrounding the oligarchs, demanding some semblance of egalitarianism. . . And revoking “Citizens’ United” because CORPORATIONS ARE NOT PEOPLE.
I’ve barely opened my eyes, haven’t had my coffee and yet I see another couple of RATS in political campaign finance? DARK MONEY never does anything charitable, hence the 501(c)4 status. This egregious assault to fairness in elections courtesy of Citizens United must be overturned. To say nothing of the loss of revenue needed by the IRS to implement legitimate laws that benefit we the people. Goof grief! How did we let this slide into law under our noses to benefit the far right autocratic system in the making? The billionaires think they rule the country and the world without so much as a penny paid in income tax. OUTRAGEOUS! The truth is they DO and we have not intervened since 2015 to shut down this horror show. Does anyone with half a brain pay attention? Mr. Koch and Leonard Leo have much to answer for. Thank you for elucidating these financial crimes disguised as charity!
As I told my wife yesterday, people like the Kochs donate tons of money to hospitals and schools, museums, to look good. Kind of paying a penitence and then do everything they can to keep from paying taxes. I call it conditional charity. When they give to schools, they want to determine who teaches and what is taught. They want to make sure their charity goes to only those they deem worthy.
Charles Koch's money MUST BE TAXED, this is the only FAIR WAY to do it. the working people are not RICH like him so he MUST NOT GET A BREAK !. the working people don't get a BREAK so KOCH MUST NOT GET ONE ! we the working people PAY our FAIR SHARE so the RICH & BIG BUSINESS & ALL CORPORATIONS MUST TOO . NOW MAKE IT SO!
but why are the SUPER RICH picked? ?it must be due to CORRUPTION just how BAD are the politions ????? , I think they are VERY BAD, and BAD for the PEOPLE=----that's NO B.S. and must know!
There has to be a way to stop this madness!! Of course, voting helps but there has to be more!! We have to shift the wealth it’s just not right for a small group to have everything!!
I think certain life essentials, such as residential housing, education, utilities, retirement savings, etc (there is a lot more--it is a long list) should be removed from the speculative markets in whole or in part. I don’t know how we do that but I believe there is a way. It is not the government that is too big, it is the speculative market that is too big. That’s my opinion.
The power of money in today's world...not unlike the power of money in yesterdays world and those many decades which came before. Obsession with power and control through any means available. We will never evolve...just create new and better technology which we can't control... aiding and assuring our species' extinction. Knowing all that goes on around us, but not willing to employ the tactics necessary to combat the evil... and if so, what good would that do... to be just like them? Bring knife to a knife fight and now we have, bring a nuclear bomb to a nuclear bomb threat...the scalability is now solidly an earth threatening reality. You can't make this stuff up and I doubt with the many Koch like personalities on our planet... we will survive...and if so what will that survival look like? Who was it that said "...money is the root of all evil..."
Thank you for this excellent coverage. Koch was the devil to me before Trump took the spot but you show how money as speech is ruining our country. Public funded elections is a must! I hope you are gathering suggestions for how to counter this deterioration of integrity as the power structure fills with gerrymandered and fully funded (bought) elected officials bent on burning our government to the ground.
THANK YOU! At long last, a journalist has exposed on social media the CHARLES KKKOCH GANG OF NEO NAZI FASCIST BILLIONAIRES who rammed “Citizens United” through the court (thanks, Clarence Thomas and Mitch McConnell) so that today, we have what Hillary Clinton correctly noted, “a vast, right-wing conspiracy” to overtake this democracy.
CORPORATIONS ARE NOT PEOPLE.
The ORGANIZED CRIME SYNDICATE, aka the RNC, is controlled by these, right-wing, Neo nazi fascists, such as Koch and Leo, Seid, DeVoss, Prince, Mercers, Ricketts, Harlan Crow--and they pull the puppet strings for every Repug they install. “Dark Money” lists more of this growing list of pfuckerz.
And, curiously, they are nazi-fascists. In fact, Koch’s father made sure his boys were nannied by a nazi, imported from Germany after the war.
We’ve all heard about Harlan Crowe’s Collection of Nazi paraphernalia. . . And Ivana tRump famously told interviewers how P1135809 kept a copy of Mein Kampf at his bedside (not that he could read it) and the “Christian Nationalists” led by Laura Ingraham sent a collective sieg heil to tRump for all the World to see.
WTF is the matter with us that we let these fascists steal our democracy right from under our eyes?
THANK YOU! We are under attack by fascists who want to wipe out the middle class. They call it “trickle down economics”--their propaganda machine CODES all sorts of Evil with benign, cynical euphemisms. “Believe in People,” 501(c) bull shit. “Citizens United”--only certain citizens--the kind that dodge taxes and corrupt politics.
This country is at war with fascist terrorists, too--the sort with billions of dollars to dump acid on democratic institutions. The Shock Doctrine is their agenda and it will turn bloody. Believe it when you see a right-winger that he is as much a traitor and terrorist as the demons Iran sent out to attack Israel.
So this is how the billionaires keep all there money and make the rest of us pay their bills. They've been working on their oligarchy for long time and they have apparently bought the Congress and the Senate to do their bidding. Their government, their education system, mostly just for them, their way or the highway.
Don’t forget the Supreme Court and their guy Clarence.
The history of our species...that's just what we do. Ancestral traits...he who hits first and hardest survives.
And, after studying histories, we learn how we destroy our governments. And, now, we're learning how we've been destroying the entire physical planet...
What a cycle we're in: billions of dollars "donated" by billionaires to protect billionaires.
And they work tirelessly at circumventing any lawful restrain upon their rapacity.
How are you Adam? I've missed you lately (today is Nov. 15th).
Work has kept me hopping. My second quit (with my blessings) but damn its been difficult without her. I've missed days and days of PI and I hate it! Missed you too Valerie and I hope to maintain a stronger presence next week.
I repeat: Poorly regulated capitalism is a rigged game.
Money talks, bullshit walks. What’s a mere 200k to five billion? Disheartening.
This is yet another tax rescinded that rarely impacts people in aggregate terms. However? Cumulatively, it both strips money from the government that could benefit so many ordinary United States citizens, and simultaneously further poisons United States democracy.
Enough is never for these people Rebecca.
Too much is not even enough
As Mary Trump titled her book about her very sick uncle, "Too Much is Never Enough".
Exactly! When I read that the lobbying firm was paid a mere $180K, my first thought was "what a bargain!"
Remember how the IRS, Holder and Obama were villainized for investigating conservative non-profits for exploiting the tax exempt loopholes? I remember so deeply how my conservative brother was enraged that he was being "investigated" for donating to TEA Party groups.
No amount of explanation was going to calm his nerves. He is pro-choice and is mad as hell about the anti-abortion laws, but will still vote for the fascists. I am speechless. He was not raised that way. He votes to protect his "property" (money).
Seems that these wealthy crooks (Koch is one) have all these experts around them helping them make decisions for them while they expect the rest of us to experts in everything like good consumers of healthcare, education. I cannot help but think of Peter Theil and how he exploited the Roth IRA to build his billionaire fortune. That Roth idea that was designed to help the average American build a nest egg for retirement.
The wealthy in this country are the DEEP STATE.
I have--had--a sister who was a staunch Trumpanzee in Arizona. It all came down to protecting her small, successful business. She really identified with the Billionaires! Her money was hers and she believed she didn’t owe anything to the institutions that helped her develop that business and to keep it going. Education? Fuck them! Transportation networks? Fuck them! Healthcare for citizens? Vaccines? Public Health? Fuck them all. What was hers was hers and, of course, she resented any success she perceived by me or my husband. She and tRump saw our service in the military as sign of suckers.
This is what they talk about when people mention social narcissism. “Libertarianism” is another cynical word made up by Charles Koch to describe those who have absolutely no sense of duty, patriotism, gratitude or regard for the greater good; libertarianism is a celebration of “Me! Me! Me!”
My brother served in the Air Force for 22 years and then in the defense industry (3 different corporations) until retirement. He has pensions from all 4, Tri-care health insurance and VA benefits, attended college (undergrad and Masters) on the government dime, shopped at PX, lived on(subsidized) base housing at times, and receives numerous discounts on insurance, hotel stays, travel, etc as a veteran. He rages against the “nanny state” and social welfare programs as “leftist” “Marxist” ideology. It seems that for some, once they’ve gotten theirs, to hell with the rest of humanity.
I empathize with having a relative who has "irrational" sympathies! Fear is a huge motivator, and we all have different (irrational) fears.
My reason for responding...has anyone written a book to reveal this "deep state"? [ e.g., DEEP STATE, a detailed description of who and what that actually is...]
The 1% has carefully planned the takeover and we see funded it with the permission of the US government from the origins to the tax loopholes. Citizens United approval set the wheels to Warp speed.
On a naive note, I had hoped when Koch the elder died, it would end. I guess Chase Koch is just like his Dad.
The dark side continues on.
I don't know if we can regain our balance as a country. Great article.
Cathy, I must point out that many of these laws were passed against the advice of the government civil service people. Those very same "deep state" that conservatives and libertarians hate so much because they take their service seriously to the citizens. These laws are enacted by the elected officials and the civil servants have to enforce them. Get the money out of the elections. Term limits will not matter until we do. David Pepper wrote a book about Ohio politics that proves that.
It’s not “the 1%”--it is the “0.1%”--and most of those are organized under the KKKoch Gang of Billionaire Neo Nazi fascist thugs tearing down this democracy.
What is being talked about here is the .002% This puts the Russian oligarchs to shame.
The term 1% covered by Occupy Wall Street in the mid 2010s referred to the top earners, not just billionaires. Smart Asset defined in 2020 as people who earn over 600,000 per year. There are 700 billionaires in the US and 21 million who earn over 600,000k included in the definition of 1%. But I agree the ones with the mist money carry the biggest problem I. Politics.
These corrupt bastards will steal everything from us, including our humanity. I have had enough and I will not stand by quietly as this stupidity continues to play out. If all of us become involved in our collective futures we will prevail!
Read Kochland to understand how the Kochs looked on the surface like the law biding corporation while behind the scenes found ways to get around every law possible. Why? If it affected profit, the law had to go.
It's called a revolution/world war/government incursion/take over and has been tried multiple times and has failed. The core failure has been the weakness of the general population to resit greed and power over others which leads to corruption due to a lack of understanding the bigger picture of long term ethical behavior. Perhaps we will evolve to the point where we understand why, how and a better way to behave...but I don't see that happening.
How do we fight this? Can Citizens United be overturned? This makes me SO MAD!
The only way to take back control is to control the flow of money.
They need $'s to control their world...if we redirect the dollars to any alternative avenue, they will be starved of the means by which they control events around them.
Tough to do unless you can live off grid and selective purchase the basics necessary for survival as opposed to $200 Nike sneakers, Apple watches and Tesla's.
Exactly Henry! The strategy for the wealthy since Reagan "starve the beast". The conservatives took the strategy to cut nothing but taxes. Everyone loves tax cuts, but resist program cuts. They then complain about the deficit they created.
The School Voucher program is the next action to destroy a public institution. As the funding for public schools continues to flow toward charter and private schools (parent choice), the need to collect public dollars for education will be unnecessary. That will result in the opportunity for more tax cuts. All these middle class people that are currently using vouchers will then be on the hook to pay for the entire private school tuition. You got to know the end game. Democracy in Chains - Nancy MacLean.
Knowing the end game is critical...too many don't want to think that far ahead or are to lazy to. It's never just the cost or savings going into any program... it's the cost, over time, both socially and financially.... as the 2 are inseparable.
Almost impossible if you are dependent upon the companies these mopes run. I am a transplant survivor and there is no way I can survive without my dope. There is no such thing as "off the grid" for folks like me. Maybe younger folken can lead the way.
Most solar households also use the electric grid. Even TX gets a sizable portion of its power from solar & wind. Maybe things are changing despite the billionaires. A small electric company in VT is broadening its approach.
“ By upgrading some power lines to make them more resistant to falling trees, putting other lines underground and giving more people in rural areas free backup storage systems such as Tesla Powerwalls, the utility hopes to make outages a thing of the past. It’s calling the push the Zero Outages Initiative, which the company hopes to achieve by 2030.”
https://www.sevendaysvt.com/vermont/green-mountain-power-aims-to-eliminate-outages-by-2030/Content?oid=39281408&media=AMP+HTML
(just subscribed to Jeff Jackson's Quick Update)
History tells us there needs to be a “peasant revolt”--Jacqueries surrounding the oligarchs, demanding some semblance of egalitarianism. . . And revoking “Citizens’ United” because CORPORATIONS ARE NOT PEOPLE.
I’ve barely opened my eyes, haven’t had my coffee and yet I see another couple of RATS in political campaign finance? DARK MONEY never does anything charitable, hence the 501(c)4 status. This egregious assault to fairness in elections courtesy of Citizens United must be overturned. To say nothing of the loss of revenue needed by the IRS to implement legitimate laws that benefit we the people. Goof grief! How did we let this slide into law under our noses to benefit the far right autocratic system in the making? The billionaires think they rule the country and the world without so much as a penny paid in income tax. OUTRAGEOUS! The truth is they DO and we have not intervened since 2015 to shut down this horror show. Does anyone with half a brain pay attention? Mr. Koch and Leonard Leo have much to answer for. Thank you for elucidating these financial crimes disguised as charity!
As I told my wife yesterday, people like the Kochs donate tons of money to hospitals and schools, museums, to look good. Kind of paying a penitence and then do everything they can to keep from paying taxes. I call it conditional charity. When they give to schools, they want to determine who teaches and what is taught. They want to make sure their charity goes to only those they deem worthy.
To teach autocratically without truthful banned books, etc. Their money, their agenda never changes, out with freedom, in with Putin.
EXACTLY!
Charles Koch's money MUST BE TAXED, this is the only FAIR WAY to do it. the working people are not RICH like him so he MUST NOT GET A BREAK !. the working people don't get a BREAK so KOCH MUST NOT GET ONE ! we the working people PAY our FAIR SHARE so the RICH & BIG BUSINESS & ALL CORPORATIONS MUST TOO . NOW MAKE IT SO!
having billionaires is a policy choice
but why are the SUPER RICH picked? ?it must be due to CORRUPTION just how BAD are the politions ????? , I think they are VERY BAD, and BAD for the PEOPLE=----that's NO B.S. and must know!
Follow the money.
A teacher and friend of mine once told me that very few people accumulate large fortunes without exploitation of people or law. Kochs a great example.
Love this reporting. Well done!
"But Koch had allies from non-profit groups — and not just on the right."
When it comes to BIG Money, they're all in it together. There are no sides at the big kid's table. Just dollar signs.
Like herpes, Charles Koch has a way of hanging around.
There has to be a way to stop this madness!! Of course, voting helps but there has to be more!! We have to shift the wealth it’s just not right for a small group to have everything!!
I think certain life essentials, such as residential housing, education, utilities, retirement savings, etc (there is a lot more--it is a long list) should be removed from the speculative markets in whole or in part. I don’t know how we do that but I believe there is a way. It is not the government that is too big, it is the speculative market that is too big. That’s my opinion.
The power of money in today's world...not unlike the power of money in yesterdays world and those many decades which came before. Obsession with power and control through any means available. We will never evolve...just create new and better technology which we can't control... aiding and assuring our species' extinction. Knowing all that goes on around us, but not willing to employ the tactics necessary to combat the evil... and if so, what good would that do... to be just like them? Bring knife to a knife fight and now we have, bring a nuclear bomb to a nuclear bomb threat...the scalability is now solidly an earth threatening reality. You can't make this stuff up and I doubt with the many Koch like personalities on our planet... we will survive...and if so what will that survival look like? Who was it that said "...money is the root of all evil..."
Thank you for this excellent coverage. Koch was the devil to me before Trump took the spot but you show how money as speech is ruining our country. Public funded elections is a must! I hope you are gathering suggestions for how to counter this deterioration of integrity as the power structure fills with gerrymandered and fully funded (bought) elected officials bent on burning our government to the ground.
THANK YOU! At long last, a journalist has exposed on social media the CHARLES KKKOCH GANG OF NEO NAZI FASCIST BILLIONAIRES who rammed “Citizens United” through the court (thanks, Clarence Thomas and Mitch McConnell) so that today, we have what Hillary Clinton correctly noted, “a vast, right-wing conspiracy” to overtake this democracy.
CORPORATIONS ARE NOT PEOPLE.
The ORGANIZED CRIME SYNDICATE, aka the RNC, is controlled by these, right-wing, Neo nazi fascists, such as Koch and Leo, Seid, DeVoss, Prince, Mercers, Ricketts, Harlan Crow--and they pull the puppet strings for every Repug they install. “Dark Money” lists more of this growing list of pfuckerz.
And, curiously, they are nazi-fascists. In fact, Koch’s father made sure his boys were nannied by a nazi, imported from Germany after the war.
We’ve all heard about Harlan Crowe’s Collection of Nazi paraphernalia. . . And Ivana tRump famously told interviewers how P1135809 kept a copy of Mein Kampf at his bedside (not that he could read it) and the “Christian Nationalists” led by Laura Ingraham sent a collective sieg heil to tRump for all the World to see.
WTF is the matter with us that we let these fascists steal our democracy right from under our eyes?
THANK YOU! We are under attack by fascists who want to wipe out the middle class. They call it “trickle down economics”--their propaganda machine CODES all sorts of Evil with benign, cynical euphemisms. “Believe in People,” 501(c) bull shit. “Citizens United”--only certain citizens--the kind that dodge taxes and corrupt politics.
This country is at war with fascist terrorists, too--the sort with billions of dollars to dump acid on democratic institutions. The Shock Doctrine is their agenda and it will turn bloody. Believe it when you see a right-winger that he is as much a traitor and terrorist as the demons Iran sent out to attack Israel.