The Koch Bros, the Dave and Charlie Show, are definitely in the news these days, pissing on and pissing off Cap’n Two Scoops by hitting him hard on two of his very worst “raise the drawbridge” policies—protectionism and hostility to immigration. Koch, Inc, the menagerie of political funding and pressure groups the brothers have concocted over the past twenty years to protect themselves from, you know, Kenyan socialism, has put its money where Charlie’s mouth is, swinging into action against the most egregiously protectionist Republican candidates in several states.
I agree with the Kochs on a number of issues, like free trade and “generous” immigration, and a host of civil libertarian issues as well, and I applaud their support for both Reason and the Cato Institute, who fight the good fight for civil liberties much more consistently and intelligently than do many liberal Democrats, and even the ACLU itself. But let’s not forget the Kochs’ “checkered” past—a pretty damn recent checkered past, as a matter of fact—upon which I’ve riffed before.
You see, before the most recent Koch confab, during which Charlie1 ripped The Donald a new one—new and eminently appropriate as well—there had been another Koch confab, back in January, 2018, during which Charlie exulted “I’m more excited about what we’re doing and about the opportunities than I’ve ever been. We’ve made more progress in the last 5 years than I had in the previous 50.”
Say what, motherfucker? Ninety percent of Charlie’s ebullience was due to the passage, only weeks before his conference, of the Republicans’ tax “reform” package, the most shameless portions of which were excellently dissected by New York Times columnist Thomas Edsall under the eminently appropriate title “You Cannot Be Too Cynical About the Republican Tax Bill”. (For even more detail, check out this report, “The Games They Will Play”, a study of the bill compiled by 13 tax law experts explaining how the law will “fundamentally undermine the integrity of the tax code and allow well-advised taxpayers to game the new rules through strategic planning,” something that people like the Kochs always claim they “hate”, but always ultimately swallow if it will save them money.)
In an article about the Koch’s most recent conference, Politico writes about the confidence the Koch organization has in its political prowess, to wit:
“Koch network officials think they have a recent model for nudging Republicans to their side of contentious issues.
“They pointed to the network’s lobbying in 2017 to kill a proposed border-adjustment tax, which would have made exports tax-free while penalizing imports, as a successful example of their policy muscle. House Republican leaders originally wanted to include the provision in their tax overhaul, but the idea died after it faced fierce opposition from conservatives.”
Well, yes, that was a glorious victory, wasn’t it? Stupid Paulie Ryan wanted to make his tax “overhaul” have at least the passing semblance of revenue neutrality, at least to begin with, so he included his border-adjustment tax, calculated to pull in around $150 billion a year, to balance the massive cuts that would be made in the corporate tax rate, cuts that would not be balanced by reductions in the various write-offs, hand-outs, deductions, and other loopholes that pulled the official 35% rate down to something closer to 15%, but the Koch boys scotched that nonsense, yessiree. But did they propose a new mechanism for offsetting the expected $150 billion a year addition to the deficit? Well, nosiree.
As I’ve noted before, the Kochs were first provoked into entering overtly into the political ring by George W. Bush’s prescription drug program, which was expected to add $70 billion a year to the deficit. But now, they blithely, nay proudly, went ahead to add twice that amount, and gloried in their triumph! Because the cash was going into their pockets rather than, you know, ordinary folks!
So, yeah, Koch folks, you are right as rain on free trade and immigration, and many other issues as well. If only you weren’t so goddamn greedy.
- Dave has pretty much retired from the field, but my “Koch Bros” joke is so damn hilarious I refuse to retire it. ↩︎
