If you or I sold something to Iran, we'd be spending 25 to life in Club Fed. But to people like the Koch brothers, the law is for the little people, not for them.
Especially annoying is the fact that they bribe their way into contracts with governments and large corporations worldwide. This is illegal for two reasons: 1) it's unfair to small businesses, and 2) it's completely antithetical to the operation of markets. It's unfair to small businesses because small businesses don't have the resources for big bribes and thus get shut out of contracts they could otherwise fulfil. It's antithetical to the operation of markets because functioning markets depend upon buyers choosing the best solution, not the one paying the biggest bribe to the contracting officer. Remember, the whole purpose of markets is to match buyers and sellers according to best match (i.e., best deal for buyers, best performing sellings). When you short circuit that with bribes, you don't have markets -- you have crony capitalism, basically fascism with another name.
But of course to the Koch brothers, free markets, like laws, are for the little people. Oh sure they talk the talk. But talk is cheap. What counts is actions, and what the actions of the Koch brothers show is that they have as much disdain for properly operating markets matching supply and demand as they have for the law.
-- Badtux the Criminality Penguin
Quote from that story by a German engineer who was bothered by Koch's sanctions-flouting viz: Iran -- “You feel totally betrayed,” Bentu says. “Everything Koch stood for was a lie.”
ReplyDeleteNot to knock the guy unnecessarily, but how is it that people with a good education are so credulous as to believe ANY corporation is honest? They bigger the company and the more polluting its business is, the more it's going to cheat, lie and kill to make a profit. Perhaps I'm just too cynical, though, and there are companies in Germany and elsewhere that are not collections of murdering thieves. The existence of corpos like Koch Industries lowers the bar so that everyone else has to sink to that level to compete, though.
Quite the tale of disgusting actions in that Bloomberg piece. Especially the case of the two kids who were burned alive. They knew there was a gas leak, they tried to get away in their pickup truck and the surroundings were so full of butane that the air literally blew up when they started their engine. The horror, the horror...
Too bad that the law enforcement agency of the federal government is feckless. Even if he was inclined to do so (which I don't think he is) former corporate lawyer Eric Holder will be intimidated into NOT prosecuting because the angry reich wing echo chamber will shriek about "politicized justice." Fear of what the reich will say is the most powerful force in American politics.
Too bad that the only hope for exposing these evil bastards comes from another billionaire's business arm. Trying to neuter a rival power centre that might oppose your third-party attempt to become fascist ruler of the U.S. Presidency, eh Mikey? If he tries to buy the preznitcy like he did the New York Mayor's office, can we call him "Jewsolini"?
One of the reasons I was excited about a Democrat becoming president is I assumed Republicans would then be subject to the law.
ReplyDeleteShit.
I have to admit that I hope that all of the recent protests in NYC and elsewhere are a sign of awareness that our current system can stand a lot of improvement. And I hope this frustration grows into something more than street theater.
ReplyDeleteI mean, like Nangleator, I vote for Democrats because I often think they'll be less beholden to big corporate interests. I am usually disappointed. But what meaningful choice do we have when all of the candidates have guys like the Koch's giving them big bucks?
The Koch crime family has been slithering around the law for decades. This latest exposure of their nefarious activities is just the tip of the iceberg.
ReplyDeleteEventually Karma has a way of coming around. Wouldn't it just be their luck to get blown up at one of their poorly maintained plants.
ReplyDeleteThe existence of corpos like Koch Industries lowers the bar so that everyone else has to sink to that level to compete, though.
ReplyDeleteYes, which is why we need Big Government to stop that kinda shit. When Libertards talk about "drowning the government in a bathtub", they mean they want a government so powerless that it can't keep sociopathic lizard people asswipes like the Koch brothers in check, which in turn forces everybody *else* to act like lizard people too.
Nangleator, you must be young. I knew rule of law was at an end when Reagan wasn't impeached for authorizing a blatant breach of the law by selling guns to Iran to get money to send to the Contras, both acts of which were illegal. Reagan learned from Nixon and didn't keep a tape recorder in his office, then used the Sgt. Schultz defense, "I know NO-think! I saw NO-think!". Half of his senile act during his presidency was real senility, the other half was a cynical ploy to keep his wrinkly old law-breaking ass out of jail.
Lynne, we'll have to see. If the protests keep on and keep getting larger and start adversely impacting the ability of our lizard overlords to function, things might start happening. And things happening are the last thing our lizard overlords want, because chaos is antithetical to their business plan of quietly looting the sheeple. I fear that people will get tired and give up. That would be the end, I think.
Dpjbro, agreed, tip of the iceberg. And unfortunately, as with an iceberg, we're unlikely to ever see the bulk of it.
Demeur, the Kochsuckers wouldn't be caught dead in one of their own factories. They have people for that.
- Badtux the Crime-family-observin' Penguin
And now we find the Koch brothers involved in the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline, the dirtiest and likely most dangerous pipeline ever proposed. Google it, or look for my recent post. Once I found out that fact, I realized that the pipeline WILL be built, no matter how much damage it does.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure they will find a way around this Foreign Corrupt Practices Act
ReplyDeleteProbably use bribes.
No no, Ruckus. We don't have bribes here in the United States. We have "campaign contributions."
ReplyDelete- Badtux the Cynical Penguin
Potato, Pathato
ReplyDelete