No barrier to money

My dad sent me a link to material of interest. The Investigative Reporting Workshop of the American University School of Communication has spent two years researching into the money and connections of David and Charles Koch. These are super rich dudes and they spend their money freely to get what they want.

And what do they want? Absolutely no barrier to them making as much money as they possibly can. That includes no taxes on their income -- Koch Industries, an oil company, had $10 billion in profits last year. No government programs that would require more taxes. No laws against them fouling air, soil, or water in their efforts to extract, transport, or refine their product. No laws that detract from oil being the prime energy source, so there are efforts to discredit global warming. In short: trash democracy. It gets in the way.

The American University material is spread over several web pages, so I'll turn to the summary posted on DailyKos and written by someone with a web name of War on Error.

The Koch brothers have funneled their money through a huge network of nonprofit agencies. Some of them I've heard of, such as Americans for Prosperity (theirs, not yours) and American Legislative Exchange Council, and others new to me, such as Citizens for a Sound Economy.

And what do these agencies do? Donate to (bribe) politicians, including candidates for the judiciary. Propose model legislation to enact their agenda. Run disinformation campaigns against candidates who won't do their bidding (which means the GOP leadership no longer controls the party). Of course, Democratic candidates are also well funded.

A more alarming area of giving is to colleges and universities. That's $30 million to 221 schools and $16 million of that went to George Mason University. Yes, these gifts come with strings. For example, because of their gift to Florida State University they get to design classes, select speakers and readings, name a program director, and initiate a student club, all to influence the next generation that free enterprise is good (and government is bad).

The first step in stopping the Koch brothers is to understand the extent of their influence. That step is now well underway.