How the other 0.00000003 percent lives: Adam Turl examines the lives of the 10 richest people

[Hannah Bell]

in the U.S.--and uncovers a rogue's gallery of serial polluters, budget-slashers, CIA contractors, union-busters and right-wing nuts.

A lot more people would be even angrier if the mainstream media reported the truth about the rich and powerful in America--who they are and how they "made it" to the top:

Number 10-9
The Koch Brothers
Charles Koch ($19 billion) and David Koch ($19 billion)

...Like their father, Fred Koch, they run the largest privately owned energy company in the U.S. Koch Industries--with annual revenues nearing $100 billion--is also one of the biggest polluters in history.

Fred founded Koch Industries in 1940, and during the Second World War, he made a bundle helping the USSR's ruler Joseph Stalin build up an energy infrastructure in his country. After the war, however, Fred "saw the light" and became one of the founders of the right-wing anti-Communist John Birch Society, which helped whip up a hysteria during the McCarthyite witch-hunts of the 1950s.

When Charles and David took over the family business, they also took over dad's right-wing political projects. The Koch Brothers fund a host of conservative groups through the Koch Family Foundations. They founded the pro-corporate libertarian Cato Institute, and David Koch was the vice-presidential candidate of the Libertarian Party in 1980.

The brothers also provide money to Americans for Prosperity, the outfit that helped organize the right-wing "tea parties" earlier this year and that toured non-plumber Samuel Wurzelbacher (a.k.a. Joe the Plumber) through Pennsylvania to present a "working-class" speaker against the Employee Free Choice Act, legislation that would make it easier for working people to organize unions...

http://socialistworker.org/2009/06/05/how-the-superrich-live

[blindpig]

1. k&r n/t

[Canuckistanian]

2. K&R

[Octafish]

3. Wow.

Nothing good to say about concentrated wealth, except it should be taxed.
I wonder if stating that idea makes me their enemy?

[maryf]

5. If they just gave

5% more in tax than they do now think of how much that would be...

[Hannah Bell]

4. kick

[maryf]

6. K&Rnt

[ColbertWatcher]

7. Kick and rec and bookmark for in-depth reading later ... n/t

[fishwax]

8. k/r

and bookmarked for later reading :kick:

[snot]

9. hmm, link now dead.

[Hannah Bell]

10. works for me.

Number 8
Michael Bloomberg
Net worth: $20 billion

Before more or less buying the New York City mayor's office (so far, he's spent just under $150 million on his mayoral campaigns), Michael Bloomberg accrued his fortune by wiring the country's financial system through his software services company. Bloomberg LP's "Market Master" terminals helped make possible the complex computerized trading that became commonplace before the 2008 financial crash.

But the recession has been good to Bloomberg, too. Since 2007, he went from "only" 147th on the list of richest Americans to eighth place.

Bloomberg tries to present the image of a philanthroper and down-to-earth businessman, but his reign has proved to be a disaster for poor and working-class New Yorkers.

He has given millions of dollars to charities in New York City, but the sum is paltry compared to his overall net worth--and his contributions have also tied up city nonprofits with the political interests of the billionaire mayor. Bloomberg likes to tout the fact that he doesn't live in Gracie Mansion--the traditional home of New York City mayors--but aside from his apartment in Manhattan, he owns multiple homes in Britain and Bermuda.

As mayor, he's pushed through massive service cuts and layoffs in New York City (even before the onset of the current crisis), closing down day care centers, health clinics and worse. Now, claiming a $500 million budget shortfall--which he could easily cover himself and still be a multibillionaire--he plans more painful cuts.

In truth, Bloomberg isn't the mayor of the majority of New Yorkers. He's the mayor of moneyed Wall Street interests.

http://socialistworker.org/2009/06/05/how-the-superrich-live

[graywarrior]

11. Aren't the Koch brothers John Birchers?

[Hannah Bell]

12. their father was a founder. (it's in the op).

[graywarrior]

13. D'oh! I will save this to read later.

And thanks for posting this. I have an interest in these two.

[Hannah Bell]

15. rumor is bush's sister dora is married to a relation: i've never been able to find

hard confirmation, but fwiw, you can google "dora bush koch".

and, btw, did you know anna nicole smith's rich old husband howard marshall was involved with koch industries?

"Marshall turned his investment in Great Northern Oil Co. with Fred Koch during the 1950s into a 16% stake in Koch Industries, now the nation's second largest privately held company<8>. When his eldest son J. Howard Marshall III sided with Fred Koch's sons Bill and Fredrick and other collateral family members in a failed attempt to take over Koch Industries from Charles and David Koch, he stripped the eldest son of his inheritance. Conversely, during the same dispute, the late E. Pierce Marshall sided with his father, Charles Koch and David Koch."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._Howard_Marshall

[graywarrior]

16. I did home care for a guy who retired from Koch Industries and let me tell you,

he was a bastard. Horrible horrible man whose kids wanted nothing to do with him even with all his millions. I'd take him out for chinese food and he'd INSIST on buying the crap art off the walls of the restaurant. What a complete self centered asshole he was.

[anonymous171]

14. Wow. Koch got rich by helping Authoritarian Communists.

:rofl:

[tom_paine]

17. Authoritarians are authoritarians, at bottom.

Duplicituous bunch.