Charles Koch Calls on Donors to Reduce Focus on Politics

[DonViejo]

Koch brothers aim to effect change without lawmakers' help

By REBECCA BALLHAUS
Jul 30, 2016 10:06 pm ET

COLORADO SPRINGS—Billionaire industrialist Charles Koch opened a gathering of about 400 conservative donors involved in his sprawling network by calling for a reduced focus on politics.

Speaking at the luxurious Broadmoor resort, the billionaire voiced concern about “an increasingly stagnant two-tiered society, with the rich and politically connected doing well, and most everybody else stuck down below.” But those seeking to overhaul institutions, such as the education system, err in “looking to politicians,” he said.

“I recognize reluctantly that politics needs to be a piece of this strategy,” Mr. Koch said. “But we’ve got to keep in mind … that if we just focus on politics, we’re going to continue to lose. We’re going to continue to deteriorate.”

Mr. Koch said he and his brother had crafted the massive donor network to be able to effect change without lawmakers’ help. “That puts us in position to make progress in spite of the current political situation, where we don’t really in some cases have good options,” he said. The Koch network has said it won’t spend money to support Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump or to attack his Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton.

-snip-

No paywall to the above article:
http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2016/07/30/charles-koch-calls-on-donors-to-reduce-focus-on-politics/

[C_U_L8R]

1. I think their accountant called

and showed them the chart illustrating all the money they threw away

[gordianot]

2. Translation Politicians every where are bumbling jackasses and you cannot trust them for a return...

.....on investment. Turds such as Scott Walker willing do your every desire with every advantage provided just do not pay out.

[SFnomad]

3. iow, they're not going to get much ROI, so it's time to cut their losses n/t

[Hortensis]

4. Charles Koch has been at this for 40 years,

along with many other wealthy ultraconservatives who have also semi-secretly infiltrated all institutions of society, including most of our colleges that now teach as mainstream thought what used to be considered unacceptably far right, dysfunctional legal and economic theory. We now have 30 years of these graduates operating in high levels of business and government.

He is not changing his spots, simply his strategy now that his name is well known and he has backlash to worry about. He'll be 81 soon and has to know he is running out of decades. So close...

"The only legitimate functions of government are protection of person and property."

[DemonGoddess]

5. ^^^This!!!

[jcgoldie]

8. Right

It bodes well for HRC in the short term but wondering where those dollars will be spent is creepy.

[TheBlackAdder]

9. That's why many ship jobs and money off shore, like how Koch & Disney ship their money to Luxembourg

.


They got away, with the help of E&Y to dodge US taxes, only paying 0.75% tax in Luxembourg. Nice "Americans"

https://www.icij.org/project/luxembourg-leaks/new-leak-reveals-luxembourg-tax-deals-disney-koch-brothers-empire



In 2014 tax arrangements negotiated by EY for The Walt Disney Company, Koch Industries, Skype, and other multinational corporations became public in the so-called Luxembourg Leaks. The disclosure of these and other tax arrangements led to controversial discussions about tax avoidance.[28][29][30]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernst_%26_Young

.

[TheBlackAdder]

6. They have also been concentrating on local school boards, town councils, judiciary, and colleges.

[Mellomugwump]

10. That's the scariest thing

I figured that their lack of willingness to donate to and support Trump just meant they were going to focus more on education and brain washing of their subjects while they're good and young. They're looking do a long term investment now because they know that throwing money at Trump is a losing cause.

[TheBlackAdder]

11. It's the "McDonalds Strategy" subvert the kids and in 20-30 years, they become the leaders.

.


Kids would force their parents back in the day (including me) to go to McDonalds--even though my parents knew it was crap food.


Then, when I got older it was OK to take the kids there, especially to get that Inspector Gadget seven-part toy.


Only recently, when they went too shitty, when they went too abusive to their workers, did things come home to roost.


.

[AgadorSparticus]

7. Translation: Our party is broken. We are going to lose all 3 branches.

We are f*cked for the next 40 yrs. So we aren't going to play politics anymore.

But his pudding analogy says it all. “I’m not saying this will be easy, or instant pudding, as the saying goes,” he said. “We’ve got to remember that the test isn’t in the pudding, the test of the pudding is in the eating. And we want to have good eating here, so we’ve got to deal with a lot of issues.”

It is not about winning. But it is about still reaping the benefits. This is alarming to me. Is democracy gone? Does this mean we can look forward to just 1 machine pulling all the levers? Wth?