You can have your own theories but
you can't have your own facts.
Charles Koch doesn't seem to agree with
this maxim. He wants to have his own theories and back them up with
his own facts as well. In 2012, Koch stated
that only countries with economic freedom can create widespread
prosperity. He says the poorest people in the most-free societies are
10 times better off than the poorest in the least free.
This is probably true, but there's no
way to prove that the poor are better off because of economic
freedom. The most-free economic societies, as determined by a
subjective formula, are also among the richest, including Hong Kong,
Singapore and Australia. The poorest countries are countries truly
devoid of economic assets of any kind: North Korea, Zimbabwe,
Eritrea, Cuba. The poor in the most wealthy countries are undoubtedly
better off than those in the poorest. For one thing, the richest
countries have a social safety net that cares for the poor.
Koch also fails to note that the
Heritage Foundation, which makes up this list of most-free countries
annually, has received support from Koch of up to $500,000 a year. So
Koch is able to buy a think tank to support his controversial views.
He hasn't received a good return on his investment, however, since
the theory of most-free economies proved nothing at a cost of over a
million dollars.
Koch claims that the U. S. government,
by its subsidies, has forced the cost of energy up. Energy from wind
energy, he says (without attribution), has been pushed up 5 times.
The U.S. Energy Information Agency (EIA), on the other hand,
estimates the cost of wind-generated energy from new plants at
approximately the same as energy from new coal plants. EIA's estimate
includes subsidies for wind and the cost of building the power
plants.
Koch is just flat wrong about what he
calls “cronyism”, which is where the government picks winners in
the economic marketplace. He's wrong because many of the most
important U.S. industries were started by “cronyism”. The
railroads were started by government subsidies in the decades after
the Civil War. The demand the railroads created for steel and coal
boosted those industries as well. WWI gave great impetus to the
airline industry, which went from the fragile biplanes built by the
Wright Brothers to planes that could fly higher, faster, and with
greater maneuverability. These planes were financed by the
government.
The jet engine, rocket-propelled
flight, and advanced telemetry came out of WWII, along with the
electronic computer, which was developed by the government to help
target powerful, longer ranged cannon shells. During the Cold War,
the U.S. developed guided missiles and miniaturized guidance systems
that put a man on the moon. These miniaturized systems were refined
into silicon chips that made America the world leader in computers
and electronic technology for decades. The internet was designed by
government projects to keep communications open during a nuclear
attack. In fact, one could easily argue that the problem with
American technology after the development of the world-wide web was
that the government was not spending enough money on research and
development of the kind that Koch calls crony capitalism.
Koch ignores the pollution caused by
coal, here as elsewhere. He apparently believes that air pollution,
not to mention greenhouse gas production, should not be considered as
a factor in choosing between wind or fossil fuels. The fact that Koch
Industries buys
petroleum coke, a particularly dirty fuel, and sells it to China,
proves that China's air pollution problems are less important to Koch
than company profits. Koch insists
in the same post that trouble begins when “companies take their
eyes off the needs and wants of consumers”. Koch Industries hasn't
considered the “needs and wants” of Chinese consumers when it
sells dirty fuel to them, or the health of residents of Detroit and
Windsor, Ontario, when Koch Industries dumps
a heap of petroleum coke 40 feet high on a city block beside the
Detroit River.
Koch's agenda is astonishing. He wants
to abolish the federal government.
Subsidies
and mandates are just two of the privileges that government can
bestow on politically connected friends. Others include grants,
loans, tax credits, favorable regulations, bailouts, loan guarantees,
targeted tax breaks and no-bid contracts. Government can also grant
monopoly status, barriers to entry and protection from foreign
competition.1
Two
of the powers Koch mentions (tax credits, targeted tax breaks) rely
directly on the government's ability to tax, granted by Article I,
Section 8, of the U.S. Constitution. One of the main reason the
Constitution was ratified in the first place was that the central
government under the Articles of Confederation had no power to tax.
Without the power to tax, the federal government will be powerless
to do anything. Even a standing army would be out of the question.
All the powers would devolve to the states.
The
sovereign states would have much more power, of course, if they chose
to use it. Those states which choose to follow the libertarian
principles of Koch will likely have very weak governments. Government
services would be minimal. Social safety nets would be nonexistent.
These states would most likely be the southern and mountain states
that currently vote reliably Republican.
The
other states would continue to have strong governments with social
services. They would be wealthier, because they would not have their
federal taxes redistributed to the poorer states, as they do now.
Koch
would also repeal the commerce clause of the Constitution, which
permits the government regulation of business. This clause was used
to prevent private businesses from discriminating against minorities.
Repeal of the commerce clause would end civil rights in this country,
or rather, in the new countries that would be organized from the
former red states.
Koch
would not oppose such a move, even though it would mean the return of
segregation and Jim Crow laws. Koch gives tens of millions of dollars
to his various charities, he has seldom, if ever, given a dime to a
charity that benefits minorities or supports civil rights. His views
on this subject are clear.
Koch
ends his post on “corporate cronyism” by announcing that
If
America re-establishes the proper role of business in society, all
kinds of benefits will accrue. Our economy will rebound. Our
liberties will be restored. And when President Obama tells an
entrepreneur “You didn’t build that,” everyone will know
better.
If
Koch's plan to suppress the taxation and commerce clauses of the
Constitution were successful, only giant corporations could afford to
conduct business in America because they are the only ones that could
afford to build the roads, pipelines, and electrical lines that would
be necessary to build anything. We are indeed fortunate that Koch's
array of fake grassroots organizations with their phony statistics
and well-paid shills has not yet succeeded. Do not believe this man.
He wishes us all ill.
1Charles
Koch, Corporate Cronyism Harms America, Wall Street Journal, Sept.
9, 2012,
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390443847404577629841476562610.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_LEADTop.
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