Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Koch brothers wage a war on Americans - Chicago Sun-Times

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Koch Industries, Inc.

latest bombshell is from St. Petersburg Times writer Kris Hundley, who exposed a 2008 agreement between the Charles G. Koch Charitable Foundation and Florida State University for $1.5 million. The money was to fund faculty positions in a new program promoting “political economy and free enterprise.” It came with the unconscionable condition that the foundation’s handpicked advisory committee hold veto power during the hiring process.

University economics departments, like FSU’s, are part of the mercenary army that gives the Koch brothers legitimizing cover. George Mason University, a public university in Virginia, is one of the best examples. The Charles G. Koch Charitable Foundation has given more than $30 million to it over the last 20 years. The foundation’s pet project is the school’s Mercatus Center, over which it exerts tremendous control. The institute touts itself as “the world’s premier university source for market-oriented ideas.” Its scholars helped mold the Bush administration’s anti-regulatory policies.

Kochs may not like taxes but they sure like to leverage public funds to advance and amplify their own ideological agenda. That agenda leaves the middle class without a government protector in the face of laissez-faire capitalism.

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