Simple answer. The Koch brothers are crony-capitalists.
How so?
Simple answer. The Koch brothers are crony-capitalists.
How so?
The Koch brothers have always just seemed motivated by money, not ideology, to me. They spend like $20M a year lobbying the federal government to reduce regulations and increase tax breaks, but generally do so for the industries in which they are invested. Combine that with a less than stellar record on economics and occasional questionable articles/support from the think tanks they support and you can see why people are uneasy.
Wait. Reduced regulations and increased tax breaks are a bad thing?
General tax breaks are good. Targeted tax breaks can lead to malinvestment.
Except, targeted tax breaks are in themselves a malinvestment with all good intentions aside.This.
Wait. Reduced regulations and increased tax breaks are a bad thing?
It's easy to speak of liberty... It's not so easy to live up to it in the face of the machine (for 30 years nonetheless).
The Kochs value liberty when it is convenient to them, just as any rational businessmen in their place would.
Same with Reason, Cato, LP, etc. They talk a good game. Usually. But in the end liberty to them is nothing more than a cost/benefit analysis.
And I think that is the central crisis we face with the new "rising stars" of the movement. Who can be trusted to truly be in it for liberty, and who sees a career first?
Ron Paul truly is a rare bird in this respect... A leader like that doesn't just pop up every generation...
Yes there is. If you're only concerned about your own liberty you're being very myopic and naive. If others' liberty can be violated on a whim, yours will be next.Exactly. So do many people here. Nothing wrong with that.
Yes there is. If you're only concerned about your own liberty you're being very myopic and naive. If others' liberty can be violated on a whim, yours will be next.
You left off the last part: but generally do so for the industries in which they are invested. General tax breaks are good. Targeted tax breaks can lead to malinvestment. That said I don't know enough about the Koch brothers to know if that is indeed their strategy.
Tax breaks are good in my opinion.
People invested in Oil want the government out of Oil, what a shocker!
The Koch brothers used to be apart of the Libertarian party, but after getting 5% of the vote, they viewed it as a lost cause and decided to influence the GOP with the Americans for Prosperity, the Cato Institute, etc...
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Did you know? David Koch was a Libertarian Vice-Presidential candidate in 1980
http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showth...bertarian-Vice-Presidential-candidate-in-1980
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They're our friends when they're anti-Obama, anti-tax, anti-global warming, anti-health care, and Tea Party. But they're our biggest enemies when they're neocons, anti-corporate tax, anti-OWS.
onlyrp is banned. The Koch brothers are not neo-cons.What exactly makes them "neo-cons?" And shouldn't being opposed to corporate taxes and all other taxes be a good thing? I'm sure that Ron supports abolishing the corporate income tax, as he supports abolishing the entire IRS.
General tax breaks are good. Targeted tax breaks can lead to malinvestment. That said I don't know enough about the Koch brothers to know if that is indeed their strategy.