Billionaires vs. Obama

JPMorgan's Losses a Canary in a Coal Mine?

FOCUS: Apocalypse Fairly Soon

FOCUS: Five Facts That Put America to Shame

The NDAA's Coup d'Etat Foiled

FOCUS: The Commencement Address That Won't Be Given

"The billionaire brothers who are waging a war against Obama: David H. Koch and his brother Charles are lifelong libertarians and have quietly given more than a hundred million dollars to right-wing causes."

David H. Koch of Koch Industries, in 1996. (photo: Richard Schulman/Corbis)

Comments

We are concerned about a recent drift towards vitriol in the RSN Reader comments section. There is a fine line between moderation and censorship. No one likes a harsh or confrontational forum atmosphere. At the same time everyone wants to be able to express themselves freely. We'll start by encouraging good judgment. If that doesn't work we'll have to ramp up the moderation.

General guidelines: Avoid personal attacks on other forum members; Avoid remarks that are ethnically derogatory; Do not advocate violence, or any illegal activity.

Remember that making the world better begins with responsible action.

- The RSN Team

+23 # Guest 2010-08-24 23:07

Rachel Maddow had Jane Mayer on her show today. She was giving a rundown of the activities of the Koch brothers. They are despicable. The amount of money they throw around to defeat Obama, is obscene. It is several hundred million dollars.

It means nothing to them, since they are -together- the ninth richest person in the country.

How can you fight against monsters like that??

It is also interesting that they are the creators of the teaparties!! It would be hilarious if it was not so dead serious.

They gave instruction that the baggers should disrupt the townhall meatings and protest the health-care and climate change. I wonder if the baggers know that they are created and supported by big corporation? Koch supplied the buses and all the professional signs

THEY ARE CONSTANTLY BASHING THE ESTABLISHMENT. What irony.

+18 # Guest 2010-08-24 23:14

I wonder if you can see what Obama is up against, and why he has to compromise. HE IS FIGHTING A BRICK WALL BUILT WITH MILLIONS AND MILLIONS OF DOLLARS. LOTS OF THEM SUPPLIED BY KOCH BROTHERS

+23 # angelfish 2010-08-24 23:25

These people are the root cause of what is WRONG in America today. They are the "Robber Barons" who would gleefully march us back to a time when the working man had no access to health care, no compensation if he were maimed or killed on the job, and no recourse other than to die quickly. Their philanthropic works are "chump change" that purchases them respectability while hiding their nefarious machinations to undermine the very Principals this Country was founded upon. It's scary stuff that most Americans don't understand or are too blind or inept to comprehend. They OWN us lock, stock and barrel courtesy of the S.C.O.T.U.S. and other minions of the ultra right-wing of the regressive Republi-WON'T Party of NO! They are the ones who instituted and fund the "Tea Partiers" and "Mad Hatters" who want to see this Country fall further into chaos and anarchy. Citizens, beware and be afraid, be very afraid. Use your VOTE to repudiate them. Don't let them get away with it again.

+17 # angelfish 2010-08-24 23:29

Imagine the GOOD that might have been accomplished if these "me firsters" had donated over one hundred million dollars to social programs that might HELP a human being rather than to Conservative causes that seek to keep the working poor exactly that, working and poor!.

+5 # Guest 2010-08-25 06:13

Please do not label causes that seek to keep the poor poor "conservative". They are rabid, radical, right-wing, reactionary causes. Anything but conservative.

-20 # Guest 2010-08-25 07:19

Imagine that if they had donated over one hundred million dollars to social programs. How many more working people could sit back and collect the handouts. THAT is a big problem today. Why try to find a job when the handouts are so easy. Any body remember an honest days wage for an honest days work? It irks me to go to the grocery, and watch the "needy" check out with their cart full of steaks, sea food, other top shelf items, whip out the food stamps, and climb into the Escalade. Meanwhile others, including myself, shop for bargains on hamburger and hotdogs, while still working 40+ hours a week. The only stimulus money I have seen around here is roads and bridges being repaired, but I can't recall any problems with them before.

+11 # Guest 2010-08-25 08:35

Attitudes like yours are what is holding this country back from any real progress. You say that you are not rich, but you are being controlled by the rich, you are their servant. You are doing your part to keep the poor in their place, by spouting the propaganda of the plutocrats. Why don't you take some time, and read A People's History of the United States, by Howard Zinn? This is the true story of the working class in this country, and how they have been beaten down by the filthy rich. And you and your pathetic attitude can take some credit too. Lazy-minded Americans are merely the tools the rich use to stay on top, don't you know that?

+11 # Guest 2010-08-25 08:55

You know, I've never seen somebody buy steaks and seafood with food stamps and then get into an Escalade. Take a movie next time so you have something to back this up. I was behind a little old lady at the grocery store the other day. She bought 1 item. It was a $2.99 piece of cheese on sale for 99 cents with a coupon. She shuffled out slowly, out of the parking lot, past the bus stop, walking to wherever she lived. I didn't realize exactly what was happening until after she had paid. I still feel bad that we as a people put the elderly in this position.

+6 # Guest 2010-08-25 16:34

Unless you provide a few details, I think it's obvious that you don't do your own shopping. Or know anyone receiving benefits. And haven't been reading the front page stories - for years - about bridges being condemned and sometimes collapsing. (Hint: St. Paul)
Charlatan.

+11 # Guest 2010-08-25 02:39

I read a large part of the whole article (go to the original). These guys are beyond belief.

+22 # Guest 2010-08-25 02:57

Thank you for all the good investigation, and for putting names on at least a couple of our billionaire rulers in this land of ours that's become the U.S. of (greed and power) A.(ddiction). Kochs are addicts of the first order, but they ain't alone.

Pres. Ike warned us, as he left office, of the military/industrial (corporate) power grab. The coup de etat came to full bloom during the Bushwhacked years.

High time we the sheeple take off the blinders, recognize all the karlroving, koch and similar billionaire addicted and financed spin, manipulation, and distraction, including press takeover, loss of rule of law, Tea Party caca, etc. etc. etc.

We need to put an end to the never ending Bush Oil Wars, kick our billionaire rulers in the but, and.....

UNDO THE COUP!

+5 # Guest 2010-08-25 17:11

R.S.Ague The ruining of our country started under the SAINTED Pres, Reagan.

He did a lot to stab us in the heart. That is why I feel like THROWING UP when people are singing his praises. A lot of them are poor and middle class. These poor fools don't realize that he basically gave them the middlefinger.

Even democrats were stupid and drank his cool-aid?? remember the "Reagan democrats", ugh

+20 # Guest 2010-08-25 04:10

Enemies of the people pure and simple. The plutocrats, like the French aristocrats of old, are pushing people on the path to revolution. Like what the dems are doing or not, our only hope to vote out every republican and send a message. The behaviors of the Kochs and others is what happens when too much wealth accumulates at the top.

+18 # Guest 2010-08-25 04:13

We shouldn't need these rich people's money to fund arts and museums if we taxed them properly and had a government that supported the arts, like any sensible nation not stuffed to the gills with morons. Time to stop naming all of our art museums and opera houses after complete sociopathic rich co(k$ckers.

+5 # Guest 2010-08-25 16:51

m. YOU ARE SO RIGHT. It worried the hell out of me when some people were allowed to buy up several TV stations and newspapers in one area. I could see what would happen; but I was working almost around the clock building my business, so I had no time to "bang the drum" and wake up the people.

Tom Hartman mentioned this morning, that, that was exactly what happened to small farmers too, with various dirty trick they were cheated out of their farms, so now we have these megafarms, that cause us all kinds of health problems, Eggs spinach??? Remember.

We are in deeeeep trouble, for we can't get our voices heard. We are drowned out by all the big money.

+2 # Guest 2010-08-25 16:55

Ron you are totally right. We should not need their money, unfortunately we do, for there IS no money for culture and art.
It is BEING USED FOR WEAPONS AND WAR!!!!

-21 # Guest 2010-08-25 05:35

Incredible that anyone has that much money to burn. Though I don't entirely agree with their modus operandi, I have to point out that Obama and friends are doing the same thing but with tax-payer money. What the Koch brothers are doing is legal. It's called politics.

+8 # Janell 2010-08-25 05:44

“We love what the Tea Parties are doing, because that’s how we’re going to take back America!”

Don't people realize, "take back America," "take our country back" and similar iterations is the mantra/objective of the KKK?

+8 # Guest 2010-08-25 06:46

These oligarchs need to fall, their fortunes seized, their empires dissolved. America's filthy rich are at war with...everyone else. They won't stop until the social safety net is destroyed, until all social services are destroyed. The Kochs fund the kind of propaganda that divides us against one another, playing to hatred and racism, misdirecting public anger over the corporate takeover of this country to the point where people are fighting for their servitude. People demand to be extorted by the insurance industry, to make their employers the gatekeepers of their health while those same employers largely view them as expendable (human) resources. We can't trust the mainstream media to report simple honest facts, like the fact that the "Tea Party" is funded by corporate billionaires whose intent is nothing short of feudalism.

+8 # Guest 2010-08-25 07:08

The word "Billionaire" should not even exist. The "Baggers" are going to be in for a big shock if their "take our country back" capitalistic Repiglicans get in office. Their Social Security and Medicare benefits will be the first things in the cross hairs. I wonder how many of the tea Party faithful realize they've been snorting Koch?

+2 # Guest 2010-08-25 20:11

I think Millions of good, decent Americans are well Conned Hoodwinkies of Global Corporate Conservative Media.

Many ordinary folks in the Tea Party Crowd are rightfully angry over a Government which has done little for decades to represent them and a LOT to represent the interests of the Wealthy Global Corporate Class before all else.

Perhaps they are working hard, long hours and are too busy to comprehend or notice how Global Corporate Conservative Media is using and manipulating them and their anger to get them to act against their own best interests and to rail against those who are trying to help them and millions of other Americans as if they are their enemies.

A lot of manipulation is done in the name of "Freedom and Liberty" by the Wealthy Global Corporate Conservative Media Stars of Deliberate National Division under the sponsorship of Global Corporate Money and through the extremely narrowly owned Global Corporate Media Enterprises in America.

+11 # Guest 2010-08-25 07:51

The only way to take our country back, (pardon the expression), is for every one of us who are awake, to do our utmost to educate those who are wallowing in ignorance. We need to organize on a massive scale, and set up "truth booths" at every public gathering, fair, festival, etc., to pass out factsheets, telling the truth about the Republican agenda. It should be done in an independent, non-partisan way, simply contrasting the agendas of each party. If people who are taken in by right-wing propagandists, are given the facts that show the corporate Republicans as they truly are, many of them will be persuaded by the truth to change their vote. I think that this is the only way to take our country back from the rich thugs that have stolen it.

+5 # Guest 2010-08-25 08:20

[quote name="genierae"]The only way to take our country back, (pardon the expression), is for every one of us who are awake, to do our utmost to educate those who are wallowing in ignorance. We need to organize on a massive scale]

Amen brother, amen. We can do simple but effective things. In California the governator Arnold has furloughed state workers calling it furlough Friday. Each Friday state workers should wear black armbands and go to shops and malls and purchase nothing. Every Friday let the business world know there will not be profits today. All of us can up with simple acts of resistance. Resistance is not futile. Remember the bus boycott in Montgomery. It just takes lots of work.

0 # Guest 2010-08-26 06:22

Trouble is, michelle, those who will suffer from the boycott will not be those in charge, it will be average citizens working in those boycotted shops, gas stations, or wherever is the choice du jour for regular boycotts. It isn't their fault they need that job or that imports have been the basis of wealth for some pretty nasty citizens.

+1 # Guest 2010-08-27 15:14

It is sad and difficult to imagine the suffering of America's workers but... the Motts DPS workers are on strike and not getting paid or even able to negotiate in good faith. This is about destroying quality of life and unions. It is part of the flat world philosophy put forth by people like Friedman. It was never easy for workers to make gains. Read the history on the rise of labor unions. There is a concerted effort on the part of corporations to make workers fear they will lose what little they have. It will not stop until workers have nothing and we all are 'tenet workers'. "Please sir, can I have some more," didn't work in Dickens time and will not work now. NBC has a sitcom devoted to the 'hilarious' situation of outsourcing. Another slam at workers. I say fight them now with dollars because I am not optimistic about the street fight that will surely come if we do not stop this trend. You are right. People will suffer but they will, we will, suffer whatever our course. I say fight now.

+7 # Guest 2010-08-25 10:09

How can 97% of Americans make informed political choices as a 'Well informed Populace' when just a very few Global Corporations own, operate and exploit almost all Media Enterprises in America?

How much of that vast network-media-megaphone is now used as nothing more than self-serving propaganda platforms for the wants, needs and interests of the 3% Conservative Wealthy Global Corporate Class?

Why have WE allowed such a tight, narrow concentration of ownership of almost all Media Enterprises in America? Why did WE allow an end to the Fairness Doctrine in Media, which was done away with under the Reagan Administration?

What does a FREE PRESS mean in a Country where almost all the Press is owned by just a few Global Corporations? What does FREE SPEECH mean when almost all the pipelines for Speech are owned by just a few Global Corporations?

If a Corporation is a 'Person' under Our Laws, does a GLOBAL Corporate 'Person' think and act as an American Citizen?

+3 # Guest 2010-08-25 10:37

Stop buying all that Chinese crap and it will make the biggest difference! You want a real change???, then take their dollars away and leave them with the "change".

+2 # Guest 2010-08-25 13:46

And they get a tax deduction on their contributions.

Sure wish I was rich.

+3 # Guest 2010-08-26 13:22

Hi to all of you commenting here. The Koch brothers are infuriating most of us.

Today in LA Times there is some good news: in an article about the millions Karl Rove is pouring in to defeating democrats, there is some hope:

A NUMBER OF ORGANIZATIONS ARE GETTING READY TO PUT OUT a lot of ADS THAT WILL INFORM THE PUBLIC ABOUT A NUMBER OF THE GOOD THINGS IN THE HEALTH-CARE BILL.

It is high time, I would say, for there is so much misinformation being spread via the republicans' and baggers' million dollar microphones.

I know, I know, the health-care reform is imperfect, but THERE ARE many good things that can be expanded upon. We need to get that out. Basically take away the negative megaphones from the baggers and repubs.

0 # Guest 2010-08-29 11:19

This article is a perfect synopsis of the battle of ideas in America. The clear evidence of the wonderful democracy we uphold. The article presents the way in which ideas (good or bad) infiltrate the American brain. The ideological war is fierceful among the thinkers. The American dream is lived by the common people. The pursuit of happiness is on ... The thinkers will continue the proliferation of their ideas. The common worker will continue to use private and public transportation to and from work for all perceived needs. The poor will continue to be happy in its own idea that the rich have cheated them out of opulence ... It's time to re-evaluate what makes you happy ... not what is fair ... ! Maybe you are happy with what you are ...

Refresh comments list
RSS feed for comments to this post.

THE NEW STREAMLINED RSN LOGIN PROCESS: Register once, then login and you are ready to comment. All you need is a Username and a Password of your choosing and you are free to comment whenever you like! Welcome to the Reader Supported News community.

rsn

Name:	*
Username:	*
E-mail:	*
Password:	*
Confirm password:	*
Fields marked with an asterisk (*) are required.