By Trevor McNeil & D.S. Mitchell
Kernel of Truth
The old adage that “only the good die young” was confirmed with the death of David Koch at the age of 79. David Koch, and brother Charles, formed the two-headed demon that led one of the most unethical and unprincipled companies in modern memory. Which is saying something with the likes of Enron as competition. Though, to be fair, like them or hate them, no one at Enron, as far as is known, used their vast fortune to fund and push for extreme hard right libertarian political ideology of small government and anti-regulation to transform U.S. government policy.
The Company We Keep
A group of hard Right, hyper-“patriotic”, pseudo-Christians emerged with the Obama election. These folks identified themselves as the “Tea Party”. They were a cranky group of hustlers and howlers who seem to think the parable goes “turn the other cheek; and then pull a Glock”. A bit of a turn on the standard evangelical prayer group.
Not On Your Nelly
Besides their peculiar twist on Christianity; the Tea Party crowd were keen on repealing the Affordable Care Act, and focused their energies on that goal. These organized purveyors of anger and hate seemed to think that the poor should fend for themselves, the hell with a social safety net. Death by lack of services was okay for 100 million people who could not get health insurance. As if pictures of malnourished children and dead bodies laying in alleyways will make the country look or feel great again. Apparently the Bibles these folks are reading are misprints or missing some important pages. Though it does not stop there. Oh, no, not on your nelly, me bucko.
Nosy Reporters
The mission of the Tea Party was to feed fires of fear and hatred over the coming “socialist” tide otherwise known as the Affordable Care Act. They made a lot of noise and drew a lot of attention. It didn’t take long for the ever curious, prying media to expose the high-profile Tea Party’s “grass-roots front”. This “grass-roots” phenomenon was in fact a billionaire-backed BMW driven campaign funded by none other than David and Charles Koch.
Not Just Right, But Ultra Right
In 2019, Koch Industries is a many tentacled behemoth. Koch Industries operates thousands of pipelines in the U.S., refines nearly a million barrels of crude oil daily, buys and sells the most asphalt in the country, is among the top 10 cattle producers, is one of the 50 largest landowners in the country, and maker of a dozens of household products that fill the shelves of every American home. The company revenue is in excess of 6.3 billion annually. But how did they get that rich? We know this generation of wealth is based on their ownership shares in the second largest privately owned company in America. But, how did Koch Industries become so large and dominate so many areas of commerce? That seems to be a family secret.
In The Closet
As with most stories of obscene wealth and its accumulation, there is a great irony in the Koch family story. Father, Fred Koch accumulated the seeds that would be the foundation of the family wealth from the Bolsheviks.
The Seeds Of Future Wealth
Yes, that’s right the Bolsheviks. You know, the communists. Koch made the family’s initial wealth through the centrally planned economy of the newly emerging Soviets, not from the unfettered, unregulated markets of early 20th century America.
Stalin Years
From 1926-1929 the Soviets bought an estimated $20 million in equipment from U.S. suppliers. Fred Koch and his company, Winkler-Koch Engineering, were huge beneficiaries of that spending. Stalin was starting his first 5 year plan, and needed oil engineers. Fred Koch, an MIT grad, was unable to sell his newly invented oil refining process in the United States. In fact, he was stopped at every turn by big oil companies suing him for patent infringement. Angry and frustrated over lawsuits preventing distribution of his process in the U.S., Koch signed on with the Commies. His first contract with Stalin was to build 15 oil refineries for an astounding $15 million. Fred Koch went on to become the primary builder of oil refineries and the gas production infrastructure for the Soviets.
Avoids The Soup Line
That’s right America’s biggest promoters of unfettered and unregulated free market economics became the billionaires of today through the graces of Stalin and the Commies. No wonder they like to keep that tidbit in the family closet. In 1933 in the depths of the Depression the communists paid Fred Koch over $500,000. A mighty chunk of change when the average guy was standing in a soup line. That’s how obscene family wealth is made.
Historically
Today’s Tea Party is actually the manifestation of thinking that goes back a hundred years. Daddy Fred Koch, was a founding member of the extreme Right-wing John Birch Society. It is obvious he programmed his sons in the ruthless use of money to secure a desired result. The main thrust of their hatred, is socialism. Socialism is evil; and that if America is not vigilant of such ideologies she will fall victim to them.
Paranoia On Steroids
According to Right-wing paranoid theory the ranks of the people who endanger democracy are many. Of particular danger were trade unions, the voting Negro, the Jewish world cabal, Arabs, homosexuals, and of course, atheists.
Infiltration And Subversion
Father Fred and those of similar ilk, believed the erosion of western democracy would develop slowly. It would be done systematically by those wily socialists through planned infiltration and subversion of the earlier mentioned groups in addition to schools and universities, the military, and the government.
Charles and David
When Fred died in 1967 of a massive coronary, Charles became the formal head of Koch Industries. David and Charles at that time operated as a similar mind. In 1980, the corrupt and politically delusional David Koch, spectacularly failed to get any traction as the Libertarian Party’s vice presidential candidate.
Libertarian Platform
The party platform that year included repealing all campaign finance laws; the abolition of Medicare and Medicaid (even in their shambolic 1980’s versions), abolition of the federal postal service; elimination of all forms of taxation, abolition of the EPA, dissolution of all government agencies concerned with transportation; the repeal of all ‘aid to the poor’ programs, and the repeal of the Occupational Health and Safety Act. In effect, David and the Libertarians planned for the elimination of a majority of the federal government, most importantly the social safety net for the poor and most vulnerable of society.
Concession Speech
The Koch’s have a very large paranoia gene. That paranoia has led to Nazi-like secrecy. Essentially, David and Charles Koch ‘s corruption and greed incentivized their wish to privatize basically everything. The intent was to focus all income revenues toward private enterprise at the cost of government-run social programs; with no limits on who can spend how much on what, and no safety regulations what-so-ever, even on modes of mass transportation, or working conditions, including in the infamously dangerous manufacturing sector. Gosh, I wonder why he got stomped like a narc at a biker rally when it came election time.
Here Come The FBI
By the late 1980’s the federal government was investigating Koch Oil for a scam to steal oil from their clients. Allegations had surfaced that the company was routinely and systematically underpaying customers. The first complaints came from the Osage Indian Reservation in Oklahoma.
A Shortage Here And There
The complaint alleged that David and Charles were nothing more than kingpins of a crime ring. The United States government was listening and it wasn’t just from Oklahoma and the Osage. Soon multiple states and tribes were complaining. It appeared as if FBI would soon drop the legal hammer on the Koch Industries band of thieves.
The Koch Method
The Koch Method was a simple system. Supervisors had the “Gaugers” intentionally misreported the amount, and quality of oil, they collected at well sites. Strangely, the massive FBI investigation mounted against the company was quietly side-railed in 1998. How could such a major investigation be halted? If the allegations were true millions of gallons of oil were being stolen from multiple sources. Well, let’s think about this. If you can afford a flood of lobbyists, can manipulate judicial appointments, and have a phone list of powerful congressional friends on speed dial; investigations can be buried.
Brother Versus Brother
All was not roses and champagne within the Koch organization, long running legal battles within the company started with the death of their father. The eldest brother Fred has stayed aloof from the company and out of most of the in-fighting. William has been at legal warfare with David and Charles since at least 1970.
His Name Is William Koch
Bill Koch is the estranged younger brother of Charles and David. Bill attempted to take control of the family company when his father died, but failed. By the 1980’s the animosity was toxic and Bill was pushed out of the company hierarchy by David and Charles. After that devastating humiliation, Bill Koch vowed to spend millions of dollars and and as much time as it took to seize control of the company. All the brothers seemed to embrace litigation, at least between themselves.
Massive Civil Suit Filed
When the government dropped its investigation of Koch Industries, Bill Koch in 1999 financed a huge civil suit against his family company. He used an obscure law that allows private citizens to file lawsuits on behalf of the United States government. Bill Koch was an instant whistle-blower. He swore to spare no cost to show the crimes of the company and its top management, most specifically Charles and David.
A Twisted Business Strategy
When the Koch case came to trial multiple company witnesses testified that “theft was part of the job”. Koch officials admitted that $10 million dollar in profits each year came from taking oil without paying for it. In fact, the Koch Industries business strategy relied on stealing other people’s oil.
In Overdrive
The jury found Koch Industries guilty of stealing oil from federal land and Indian tribes. Koch Industries was facing 250 million dollars in damages. The Koch attorneys quickly went into hyper-drive and settled with the complainants for an undisclosed amount before the judge ordered a monetary award.
Ways and Means
Not one to let a humiliating trial loss get them down, the corrupt Dave and Charlie duo decided to throw even more money into their efforts to influence politics simply by doing what they did best. Which was to secretly misuse their vast, mostly ill-gotten, fortune to throw money at what they saw as the “government problem”. That is to say a powerful federal government. Emasculation the government became their end goal.
Candidates Need Money
They thought meddling in elections was a devious way to achieve their goal, so they tried it. Their political activities even included trying their damnedest to sway elections through illegal, out-of-state campaign contributions. Such as those they gave to Governor Scott Walker in 2010 when he was running for Wisconsin governor. There is also their famous, and failed, support of Mitt Romney’s presidential run against Barack Obama in 2012 and, most infamously, their successful backing of the Trump Campaign in 2016.
Conservative Judiciary
Without a doubt Dave, along with Charlie, will be long remembered as the all time mega donors for ultra Right-wing causes. Theirs is the money behind Reason Magazine, Heritage Foundation, Institute for Humane Studies, Cato Institute and the Federalist Society to name just a few groups developed and funded by David and Charles Koch. The Federalist Society has been the judicial hatchery for judges for the Trump administration. Thanks to the work of The Federalist Society and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Trump has been able to appoint more conservative judges than any president in modern history.
Death Comes To All
But the old guard is falling. David is gone as of August 23rd, and Charles who has been in poor health for several years will be close behind his brother to the cemetery, I presume. Even the worst of men have a biological time limit on this earth. I for one will cry no dirge for David Koch, he certainly has not earned any respect by 99% of Americans who need the government to work for the many, not the richest and most powerful.
