T.hill
10-15-2015, 10:33 PM
In a rare in-depth interview; Charles Koch sat down with CBS to detail his business strategy, personal life, and political beliefs. He also talks a little bit about his public perception.
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/charles-koch-im-fighting-against-special-interests/
... the sixth-wealthiest man in the country still gets his lunch every day at the company cafeteria, although it's a bit more challenging after recent foot surgery. The 79-year-old CEO is at his desk each morning at 7:15 a.m., under the watchful eye of the family patriarch: "That's my Dad," Charles said.
Fred Koch made his first fortune building refineries for Stalin's Soviet Union, and became a fervent anti-Communist. In his office, Charles keeps a framed letter Fred wrote to his first two sons, when he took out an insurance policy for them: "'If you choose to let this money destroy your initiative and independence, then it will be a curse to you and my action in giving it to you will have been a mistake.' So that's the way he was."
Koch has become a codeword for corporate villainy among Democrats, like Senator Harry Reid:
"The Koch Brothers and other money interests are influencing the political process for their own benefit. They are trying to buy America, and it's time that the American people spoke out against this terrible dishonesty of these two brothers who are about as un-American as anyone that I can imagine,"
According to the Campaign Media Analysis Group, some 53,000 attack ads mentioned the Koch Brothers in the last election cycle.
Harry Reid: Republicans are "addicted to Koch" (CBS News, 03/04/14)
"Like Harry Truman said, if you can't stand the heat, don't go in the kitchen," said Koch.
"But it's got to be unnerving on some level?"
"I knew I'd get heat. But I didn't know it'd be this vicious and this dishonest."
To spread his free-market philosophies, in the '70s Koch co-founded the libertarian think tank, the Cato Institute, to advocate for a radically smaller government with reduced regulation and no subsidies.
But during the administration of President George W. Bush the Kochs decided to get more active.
"He's a fine person," said Koch. "I'm sure he meant well. Then he grew government more than just about any president before him, and he got us into counter-productive wars. So that's when I decided we needed to get into politics.
The rest of the story and a video of the interview is at the link above.
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/charles-koch-im-fighting-against-special-interests/
... the sixth-wealthiest man in the country still gets his lunch every day at the company cafeteria, although it's a bit more challenging after recent foot surgery. The 79-year-old CEO is at his desk each morning at 7:15 a.m., under the watchful eye of the family patriarch: "That's my Dad," Charles said.
Fred Koch made his first fortune building refineries for Stalin's Soviet Union, and became a fervent anti-Communist. In his office, Charles keeps a framed letter Fred wrote to his first two sons, when he took out an insurance policy for them: "'If you choose to let this money destroy your initiative and independence, then it will be a curse to you and my action in giving it to you will have been a mistake.' So that's the way he was."
Koch has become a codeword for corporate villainy among Democrats, like Senator Harry Reid:
"The Koch Brothers and other money interests are influencing the political process for their own benefit. They are trying to buy America, and it's time that the American people spoke out against this terrible dishonesty of these two brothers who are about as un-American as anyone that I can imagine,"
According to the Campaign Media Analysis Group, some 53,000 attack ads mentioned the Koch Brothers in the last election cycle.
Harry Reid: Republicans are "addicted to Koch" (CBS News, 03/04/14)
"Like Harry Truman said, if you can't stand the heat, don't go in the kitchen," said Koch.
"But it's got to be unnerving on some level?"
"I knew I'd get heat. But I didn't know it'd be this vicious and this dishonest."
To spread his free-market philosophies, in the '70s Koch co-founded the libertarian think tank, the Cato Institute, to advocate for a radically smaller government with reduced regulation and no subsidies.
But during the administration of President George W. Bush the Kochs decided to get more active.
"He's a fine person," said Koch. "I'm sure he meant well. Then he grew government more than just about any president before him, and he got us into counter-productive wars. So that's when I decided we needed to get into politics.
The rest of the story and a video of the interview is at the link above.