Who is koch brothers

I'm a conservative on economic matters, and I'm a social liberal," a contrast to the anti-abortion and anti-gay rights espoused by many Republicans. Gus diZerega, a former friend of Charles Koch, told the New Yorker he believes the brothers have transferred their father's loathing of communism to a distrust of government in general. In its purest form Libertarianism opposes government intervention in any form, be it on border controls or gay marriage, so it is perhaps no surprise that the Kochs would challenge President Trump on tariffs.

During the election, Charles Koch likened the choice between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton to "cancer or heart attack", focusing their finances on the senate and congressional races. Since his election many of Mr Trump's policies chime with the brothers' long battle for small government, such as his tax reforms and repeal of environmental regulations. Tim Phillips, the president of one of the Koch network's groups Americans for Prosperity, acknowledged "positive steps" from the Trump administration, but added "tariffs will undercut that progress and needlessly hamstring our full economic potential".

In a March opinion piece in the Washington Post, Charles wrote: "Countries with the freest trade have tended to not only be the wealthiest but also the most tolerant. He said his interests in steel meant he would gain from tariffs - but he opposed them anyway. The Koch brothers and their millions of dollars tossed at them or Donald Trump?

An unemployed politician doesn't know what to do with himself when he's out of politics," he said. Charles himself shows little sign of slowing down, but when he does there is a new generation of Kochs such as his son Chase, who heads yet another Koch Industries offshoot - Koch Disruptive Technologies.

Sound familiar? Charles Koch: "Allowing people the freedom to pursue their own interests within the limits of just conduct is the best and only sustainable way to achieve societal progress. For individuals to develop and have a chance at happiness, they must be free to make their own choices and mistakes, rather than be forced to accept choices made for them by others.

David Koch: "It's something I grew up with - a fundamental point of view that big government was bad, and that the imposition of government controls on our lives and economic fortunes was not good. Harry Reid, former Democrat Senate majority leader: "They are trying to buy America, and it's time that the American people spoke out against this terrible dishonesty of these two brothers who are about as un-American as anyone that I can imagine.

What's interesting is that they seem to have spent their money so much more efficiently and effectively than most rich people interested in politics manage to do. The Trump statistic that explains it all. What lies behind the G7 trade row? Image source, Getty Images. Stalin and boxing: The early years. Image source, Wichita State University Libraries.

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Charles Koch later signaled he wanted independence from the party altogether. I made Yet some Trump policies and positions have been wins for the Kochs. For example, Leonard writes in his book that the Koch network was instrumental in the growth of climate change denial that continues to shape conservative policy. But David Koch stepped down from the Koch Foundation and its associated political arms in due to his declining health.

The fact is, Leonard said, Charles Koch was always the driver behind it all, the brain behind the operation, while David was more inclined to be the public face of their movement. It is "such a sad day" for those in the Koch family that remain after David's death, Leonard said. More: How adult Americans think about climate change. Facebook Twitter Email. Who are the Koch brothers and how did David Koch help shape conservatism in America? Koch entered the s on a pipeline-buying spree. By , its network measured 37, miles.

According to sworn testimony from former Koch employees, the company operated its pipelines with almost complete disregard for maintenance.

For Charles, MBM — first communicated to employees in — was an attempt to distill the business practices that had grown Koch into one of the largest oil businesses in the world. To incentivize workers, Koch gives employees bonuses that correlate to the value they create for the company. To prevent the stagnation that can often bog down big enterprises, Koch was also determined to incentivize risk-taking.

On paper, MBM sounds innovative and exciting. Applying MBM to pipeline maintenance, Koch employees calculated that the opportunity cost of shutting down equipment to ensure its safety was greater than the profit potential of pushing aging pipe to its limits.

It would take away from our profit margin. When small spills occurred, Dubose testified, the company would cover them up. Before the worst spill from this time, Koch employees had raised concerns about the integrity of a s-era pipeline in South Texas. But the company not only kept the line in service, it increased the pressure to move more volume. When a valve snapped shut in , the brittle pipeline exploded.

More than 90, gallons of crude spewed into Gum Hollow Creek, fouling surrounding marshlands and both Nueces and Corpus Christi bays with a mile oil slick. By , the EPA had seen enough. It sued Koch for gross violations of the Clean Water Act.

It was also violating federal environmental law in other corners of the empire. Through much of the s at its Pine Bend refinery in Minnesota, Koch spilled up to , gallons of jet fuel into wetlands near the Mississippi River.

This facility had already been declared a Superfund site in In , Koch was hit with a count indictment over claims it violated the Clean Air Act by venting massive quantities of benzene at a refinery in Corpus Christi — and then attempted to cover it up.

According to the indictment, Koch filed documents with Texas regulators indicating releases of just 0. But the government alleged that Koch had been informed its true emissions that year measured 91 metric tons, or 15 times the legal limit. By the time the case came to trial, however, George W. Bush was in office and the indictment had been significantly pared down — Koch faced charges on only seven counts.

Seventeen years old, with long chestnut hair, Danielle began to feel nauseated. The Smalleys were too poor to own a telephone. As they drove away, the truck stalled where the driveway crossed a dry creek bed. Danielle cranked the ignition, and a fireball engulfed the truck. Unknown to the Smalleys, a decrepit Koch pipeline carrying liquid butane — literally, lighter fluid — ran through their subdivision.

Installed in the early Eighties, the pipeline had been out of commission for three years. When Koch decided to start it up again in , a water-pressure test had blown the pipe open. Koch repaired only 80 of the defects — enough to allow the pipeline to withstand another pressure check — and began running explosive fluid down the line at high pressure in January Charles Koch had made it clear to managers that they were expected to slash costs and boost profits.

He declined to comment for this story. The reality was far different. Charles has since committed Koch Industries to obeying federal regulations. Then George W. Bush entered the White House in , his campaign fattened with Koch money. Bush Presidential Library. In , the administration installed a fiercely anti-regulatory academic, Susan Dudley, who hailed from the Koch-funded Mercatus Center at George Mason University, as its top regulatory official.

Today, Koch points to awards it has won for safety and environmental excellence. But even as compliance began to improve among its industrial operations, the company aggressively expanded its trading activities into the Wild West frontier of risky financial instruments. In , the Commodity Futures Modernization Act had exempted many of these products from regulation, and Koch Industries was among the key players shaping that law. This corporate alliance fought to prohibit the federal government from policing oil and gas derivatives.

Phil Gramm, giving the Energy Group exactly what it wanted. By law. Before its spectacular collapse, Enron would use this loophole in to help engineer an energy crisis in California, artificially constraining the supply of natural gas and power generation, causing price spikes and rolling blackouts.

This blatant and criminal market manipulation has become part of the legend of Enron. But Koch was caught up in the debacle. Revamping its strategy, Koch Industries soon began bragging of record profits.

In that period, the company embarked on a corporate buying spree that has taken it well beyond petroleum. When oil prices spiked to record heights in , Koch was a major player in the speculative markets, according to documents leaked by Vermont Sen.

Bernie Sanders, with trading volumes rivaling Wall Street giants like Citibank. Only Koch knows how much money Koch reaped during this price spike. When the global economy crashed in , so did oil prices. At the same time, oil traders anticipated that prices would eventually rebound. The company leased nine supertankers and filled them with cut-rate crude and parked them quietly offshore in the Gulf of Mexico, banking virtually risk-free profits by selling contracts for future delivery.

All in, Koch took about 20 million barrels of oil off the market, putting itself in a position to bet on price disruptions the company itself was creating. Estimates pegged the cost of the contango trade by Koch and others at up to 40 cents a gallon.