Over the weekend the Koch brothers brought together 16 of their favorite politicians and 450 of their wealthiest and most conservative friends for a conference in California. After being threatened to be put on the Koch brothers’ blacklist (we’re assuming), reporters agreed to some insanely tight reporting restrictions so it’s hard to get a clear picture of the weekend. That said, it’s clear there was a lot of red meat thrown around by the Kochs’ presidential picks and a lot of talk about ending subsidies.
The Kochs’ stance on subsidies is, unsurprisingly, hypocritical. Nonetheless, almost daily at least one Koch mouthpiece is arguing against “corporate welfare,” or the subsidies and tax structures that help businesses grow and keep markets competitive. If you take a look at the Koch brothers’ own business record, though, subsidies are a part of their success story. According to the Center for Media and Democracy, Koch Industries and companies it has purchased, such as Flint Hills Resources and Georgia-Pacific, have received roughly $157 million in state and federal subsidies, “with an additional $6.2 million in federal loan guarantees.” Flint Hills received $15.7 million in Iowa state subsidies, and some have estimated that Koch-owned company Matador Cattle received up to $12.5 million in subsidies.
Their regular argument against subsidies is that they are bad for business, but there is no denying that the Kochs have been able to grow their wealth using those very policies. It’s at least partially because of “corporate welfare” that the Kochs have become the world’s richest oil tycoons — not just America’s richest, the world’s richest.
So why are the Kochs fighting against the very thing that has helped them? Because now those same subsidies are helping their competitors. They’re on top, and they have no interest in letting anyone else join them there. The billionaires’ stance on subsidies shows more than their hypocrisy — it shows their unadulterated greed.