Koch Industries (and the Family) - Part 5

I applaud the efforts of the Koch family - on their own, a Dutch immigrant type-setter became a newspaper owner and railroad magnate.  The first American-born generation became millionaires with a new type of oil refining procedure, which they marketed to Russia and Germany.  Back in the US, the family solidified it's holdings and grew to a $100 million a year business.  When the business was turned over to the second generation, the decision was to diversify, and in another 40 years, the business has become a producer of more than $110 billion per year.  It is a privately owned and run business.  Charles Koch, the Chairman and CEO, says that the business will become a public interest "over my dead body."
   In the beginning of Part 1 of this post, I said that I disliked the Koch brothers because they hide behind a lot of different organizations.  I admit, their philanthropic gifts to universities, cities, and the arts are extremely welcome and much needed.  But I am the daughter of two two Democrats, and was raised in the South of the United States during the Civil Rights Movement.  My parents taught me that all people were equal - no matter the color of their skin, their religious beliefs, or any private practices.  I was not a better person than anyone else - and I needed to prove to the world, and myself, that I was a good person - holding no grudges, not prejudging anyone or anything, and listening closely to what was said, and left unsaid. (Honestly, a great deal of our current Republican rhetoric frightens me.  I would like for our country to have a balanced budget.  I would like to live in peace with all other countries.  I consider myself a "dove,"  but I will only give so much before I start to resist a push....)
   The Koch brothers have never claimed to be anything but a type of conservative Republican bordering on Libertarian. In the 2012 Presidential campaign, Charles and David Koch pledged, and gave, $60 million to defeat President Obama.  There were also another $274 million contributed against the President; it is reported that at least $86 million of those monies were given by Koch donor groups.
   After being increasingly criticized by opponents, Charles Koch wrote an opinion-editorial piece for the Wall Street Journal, (2 April 2014 - Charles Koch: I'm Fighting To Restore A Free Society) that describes his agenda.  Koch wrote that "our critics would have you believe we're un-American" and trying to "rig the system," and then he described his pursuit of "the principles of a free society."  He described his opponents as "Collectivists" who promised "heaven but deliver hell."  This article was placed into the United States Congressional Record.
   Below is a list of organizations that were created by one of the Koch family, have a Koch brother (Charles or David) sitting on the governing board, and/ or receive funding, both openly and anonymously, from the Koch brothers and Koch Industries:
  American Energy Alliance
  Cato Institute
  Mercatus Center (at George Mason University)
  Heritage Foundation
  American Enterprise Institute
  Federalist Society
  Institute for Justice
  Alexis de Tocqueville Institute
  Institute for Energy Research
  Manhattan Institute
  George C Marshall Institute
  Reason Foundation
  Foundation for Research on Economics and the Environment
  American Legislative Exchange Council
  Fraser Institute
  Aspen Institute
  Citizens for a Sound Economy (which became...)
  Americans for Prosperity
  FreedomWorks
  Patients United Now
  Freedom Partners
  Competitive Enterprise Institute
  Paul T Conway's Generation Opportunity ( a youth mobilization group)
Look at political ads and ads that are for the Keystone XL Pipeline, and check for the above names.  I particularly dislike an advertisement running on television in Colorado (and, probably other states) where a pale woman with long blond hair, stands there, looking at the camera in seeming despair, and saying,  "...Obamacare. It just won't work."  She's a paid actress, and the ad is paid for by Americans for Prosperity.  Why not wait for another year or two to let the system start to work, before condemning it?  Oh. And don't forget the Koch PAC, either.

  Next up:  tar sands, the Keystone XL Pipeline, environmental violations, fines paid, and Koch Industries

Koch Industries (and the Family) - Part 4

... So Charles Koch took over the day-to-day running of Koch Industries back in 1966.  Charles had big plans; he began to push the limit of corporate growth by returning 90% of the company's profits back into the company till and by diversifying the company to the maximum.  The profits for Koch Industries in 1966 were $100 million. Following Charles' plans, in 2008, the company's profits were $100 billion.  I have to hand it to him - he knows how to make money!
  Currently, Charles Koch and his brother David each own 42% of the company, leaving 16% to others that their father trusted.  Charles and David bought out their other two brothers, for $1.1 billion apiece.  The latest figures released by the company states they have 50,000 employees in the United States and another 20,000 employees in other countries.  This is a list of the industries that Koch has invested in: asphalt, chemicals, commodities trading, energy, fibers, fertilizers, finance, mineral rights, natural gas. oil, plastics, petroleum, pulp and paper, and ranching.  They own 4,000 miles of pipelines in the United States and Canada; they refine 800,000 barrels of crude oil daily; they buy and sell almost all of the asphalt within the US; they are among the top 50 landowners (by size of property) in the United States; and they are among the top 10 cattle producers in the US.
  What, specifically, belongs under the umbrella of Koch Industries?  
  Georgia-Pacific - if you use Brawny paper towels, Angel Soft toilet tissue, Quilted Northern toilet tissue, Mardi Gras brand plates, napkins, cups, or utensils, Dixie plates and bowls, Sparkle paper towels, or any Vanity Fair brand paper products,  you contribute to the Koch brothers pockets.
  Invista - a fibers and polymer company; if you use anything containing Lycra, or anything treated with StainMaster, you pay the Kochs.
  Koch Pipeline Company, L P - they own over 4,000 miles of pipeline used to transport oil, natural gas, asphalt and chemicals.  These pipelines run through Wisconsin, Minnesota, Texas, Missouri, Iowa, Oklahoma, Louisiana, and through Alberta, Canada.
  Flint Hills Resources, L P (aka The Koch Petroleum Group) - this company produces gasoline, diesel fuel, jet fuel, other aviation fuels, ethanol,polymers, chemicals, base oils, and asphalt.  They own 13 asphalt terminals in six states: Alaska, Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, and North Dakota.
  Koch Fertilizer, L L C - they are one of the world's largest producers of nitrogen fertilizer.  They own, or have vested interests in nitrogen fertilizer plants in the United States, Canada, Trinidad & Tobago, Venezuela and Italy.  They own, or have vested interests, in ammonia producing facilities in Louisiana, Canada, Australia, and the United Kingdom.
  Koch Agricultural Company - they raise cattle on three ranches in three states as the Matador Cattle Company.  Their ranches are near Beaverhead, Montana; Matador, Texas; and Flint Hills, Kansas.

  Charles Koch certainly saw to the diversification of Koch Industries.
   More regarding Koch Industries, their PAC, the political groups they back, their environmental transgressions, and suggested reading still to come....