"Park Avenue: Money, Power & the American Dream" and the Koch brothers (aka the Tea Party)

[Bill USA]

I just saw a rerun of the excellent PBS documentary "Park Avenue: Money, Power & the American Dream" -

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1017111119

the documentary is loaded with facts and spends some time on the Koch brothers buying influence and basically creating the Tea Party "grass roots" movement - a fact which I've NEVER heard anybody in Corporate media mention.

I just thought I would share a link to a great report on the brothers Koch fromthe Center for American Progress. It lists all the various 'grass roots' organizations and anti-think tanks they have contributed to or created (CATO Institute (for the insane))..

http://www.americanprogressaction.org/wp-content/uploads/issues/2011/04/pdf/koch_brothers.pdf

[div class="excerpt" style="width:auto;float:right;"]


The Koch brothers are this centuries incarnation of Jay Gould, the 19th century financier, who is the God-Father of the modern Republican Party and who summed up their operating principle of divide and conquer when he said: [font color="red"]"I can hire half the working class to kill the other half."[/font]

The Koch brothers are doing the same thing by convincing millions of poor bastards to vote against their own (and the country's) self interest and in the process dispatch their livelihoods and their standard of living.

Using Americans for Prosperity to “stimulate” the Tea Party

When the Koch-created Citizens for a Sound Economy split into two organizations— FreedomWorks and the Americans for Prosperity Foundation—David Koch remained chairman of the Americans for Prosperity Foundation and the organization continues to receive funding from the Koch brothers. The Americans for Prosperity Foundation and its sister organization, Americans for Prosperity, work to educate and mobilize conservatives on a range of issues, from the budget to health care and workers’ rights.

Americans for Prosperity holds rallies and events across the nation and spends millions of dollars on television advertising and voter mobilization efforts. Last year, it spent roughly $45 million for the midterm elections. And its membership is growing. In April 2009, there were roughly 23 state chapters, but now Americans for Prosperity touts chapters in 32 states (see map at right).

Charles and David Koch used Americans for Prosperity to “stimulate” the Tea Party movement that arose over the past two years. Americans for Prosperity was one of the organizations that helped plan dozens of the first national Tea Party rallies back in April 2009. Americans for Prosperity staffers organized events from making reservations, to providing talking points and signs, to calling activists
to encourage them to participate. One employee said their role was to “educate” Tea Partiers and give them “next step” training at their rallies.

Think of Americans for Prosperity as the voter-organizing arm of the Koch empire—a formidable political machine that plays a role in all the key electoral states. They have the ability to organize events, mobilize voters, and run television ads. These ads promote their right-wing agenda and force elected officials to respond. This is but one way the Koch brothers use their considerable finances to influence elections. Another way is through direct contributions to candidates at the national and state level, which is the subject of our next section.

the report includes a list of groups supported by the Koch bros. here The Koch Brothers Influence Empire
Here's the top 5...

Cato Institute—$13,887,640
Citizens for a Sound Economy2—$12,356,712
George Mason’s Mercatus Center—$9,674,500
Americans for Prosperity Foundation—$5,610,781
Heritage Foundation—$4,115,571

Here's a report from Mother Jones on how much the Koch brothers spent on the 2012 election (to the extent that this figure can be determined)

Charts: How Much Have the Kochs Spent on the 2012 Election?


[font size="3"] The Koch Brothers have played a very large part in the rampant insanity [/font]we've been witness to in the political sphere since the Conservatives pet theology of Trickle Down Supply-side Econocomics exploded in their faces with the Great Recession (let's not call it the Great Depression II). During the Bush administration they got everythng they wanted, everything they had been chanting for and it produced the worst economic catastrophe since the Great Depression. The conservatives have been pretending their policies didn't create the disaster and just upped the tempo and volume of their babbling.

[freshwest]

1. Excellent thread. K & R.