The enormity of the Koch fortune is no mystery. Brothers Charles and David are each worth more than $40 billion. The electoral influence of the Koch brothers is similarly well-chronicled. The Kochs are our homegrown oligarchs; theyve cornered the market on Republican politics and are nakedly attempting to buy Congress and the White House. Their political network helped finance the Tea Party and powers todays GOP. Koch-affiliated organizations raised some $400 million during the 2012 election, and aim to spend another $290 million to elect Republicans in this years midterms. So far in this cycle, Koch-backed entities have bought 44,000 political ads to boost Republican efforts to take back the Senate. Related koch brothers Koch Industries Responds to RS – And We Answer Back What is less clear is where all that money comes from. Koch Industries is headquartered in a squat, smoked-glass building that rises above the prairie on the outskirts of Wichita, Kansas. The building, like the brothers fiercely private firm, is literally and figuratively a black box. Koch touts only one top-line financial figure: $115 billion in annual revenue, as estimated by Forbes. By that metric, it is larger than IBM, Honda or Hewlett-Packard and is Americas second-largest private company after agribusiness colossus Cargill. The companys stock response to inquiries from reporters: We are privately held and dont disclose this information. Read more: rollingstone/politics/news/inside-the-koch-brothers-toxic-empire-20140924#ixzz3LWH8gVSt Follow us: @rollingstone on Twitter | RollingStone on Facebook
Posted on: Wed, 10 Dec 2014 18:07:47 +0000
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