Why can't the Liberals understand the difference between the Free Market Capitalism and Crony Capitalism?

Question

The only valid criticism they have against David and Charles Koch is their Political Spending which is nothing compared to the Democrats. They are big time Philanthropists for Cancer and around medically also. Read up Liberals = you are a victim of bad propaganda

Answer 1

The Koch Brothers aren't even in the top five of open secrets

Barack Obama (D)
Mitt Romney (R)
Raised $715,677,692 $446,135,997
Spent $683,546,548 $433,281,516
Debts $7,223,153 $1,200,000
Cash
(on Hand) $5,397,399 $12,921,629

Overall
Spending
(See More) BLUE TEAM
$1,107,114,702 RED TEAM
$1,238,097,161 Blue Team


legend
legend Small Indiv Contrib.
Large Indiv. Contrib. $233,215,440
$489,660,089
Individual contributions $715,150,163
legend PAC contributions $0
legend Candidate self-financing $5,000
legend Federal Funds $0
legend Other $522,529
legend
legend Small Indiv. Contrib.
Large Indiv. Contrib. $79,806,091
$366,336,696
Individual contributions $443,363,010
legend PAC contributions $1,076,496
legend Candidate self-financing $52,500
Top Contributors

Barack Obama (D)
1 University of California $1,212,245
2 Microsoft Corp $814,645
3 Google Inc $801,770
4 US Government $728,647
5 Harvard University $668,368
Mitt Romney (R)
1 Goldman Sachs $1,033,204
2 Bank of America $1,013,402
3 Morgan Stanley $911,305
4 JPMorgan Chase & Co $834,096
5 Wells Fargo $677,076
View Top Contributors for All Candidates


Barack Obama (D)
Agribusiness $2,067,055
Communications/ Electronics $20,723,578
Construction $4,172,690
Defense $1,141,130
Energy & Natural Resources $2,410,062
Finance, Insurance & Real Estate $20,431,321
Health $18,914,849
Lawyers & Lobbyists $27,959,192
Transportation $1,378,606
Misc Business $22,598,697
Labor $494,094
Ideological/ Single-Issue $17,276,836
Other $91,795,660
Mitt Romney (R)
Agribusiness $7,409,733
Communications/ Electronics $7,518,745
Construction $9,734,459
Defense $1,365,334
Energy & Natural Resources $9,788,922
Finance, Insurance & Real Estate $58,902,452
Health $18,692,033
Lawyers & Lobbyists $15,791,881
Transportation $5,803,510
Misc Business $29,090,785
Labor $4,250
Ideological/ Single-Issue $10,522,878
Other $72,942,064
View

Barack Obama (D)
Retired $54,522,578
Lawyers/Law Firms $27,533,147
Education $21,615,820
Health Professionals $10,456,340
Business Services $8,646,106
Mitt Romney (R)
Retired $64,727,865
Securities & Investment $21,525,657
Real Estate $14,895,300
Lawyers/Law Firms $14,285,200
Health Professionals $12,598,997
View

Spending Related to Presidential Race
Blue TeamCandidate Spending $683,546,548
National Party Spending $292,264,802
Outside Spending $131,303,352
Total $1,107,114,702
Red TeamCandidate Spending $433,281,516
National Party Spending $386,180,565
Outside Spending $418,635,080
Total $1,238,097,161

Why (and How) We Use Donors' Employer/Occupation Information

METHODOLOGY

NOTE: All the numbers on this page are for the 2012 election cycle and based on Federal Election Commission data released electronically on Monday, March 25, 2013.
("Help! The numbers don't add up...")

Feel free to distribute or cite this material, but please credit the Center for Responsive Politics. For permission to reprint for commercial uses, such as textbooks, contact the Center.
2012 Presidential Race
Paul and Rubio Make Headway With Big Donors

February 2, 2015 | Mitt Romney’s will-he-won’t-he drama and the big fundraising ambitions of Jeb Bush and Chris Christie have dominated the presidential money-in-politics story lines lately, but the three GOP senators seen as most likely contenders for the 2016 Republican nomination have one advantage — long-established leadership PACs they’ve used to crisscross the country and drum up support. And numbers…
Read more...
Wall Street’s Investments in Deregulation

January 14, 2015 | Wall Street did its part to make 2014 the most expensive midterm election ever, outpacing its 2010 total and once again putting the bulk of its financial muscle behind GOP candidates and groups. Donors from the securities and investment industry, otherwise known as Wall Street, contributed a total of $184 million to candidates, parties and outside…
Read more...
Warren Wealthiest Among Congress’ Potential White House Bidders

January 13, 2015 | Despite her reputation as an anti-Wall Street populist, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) is the wealthiest of the potential 2016 presidential candidates currently serving in Congress, with an estimated net worth of $6.7 million as of Dec. 31, 2013. Four other current members are weighing runs: Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Rand Paul (R-Ky.), Marco Rubio (R-Fla.),…
Read more...

legend Federal Funds $0
legend Other $1,643,991
View

Answer 2

Now, would you like to list the things Soros did that you never give him credit for, like bankrolling three revolutions behind the Iron Curtain? And then tell us how much he has spent on Democratic campaigns, which isn't a pittance compared to the Kochs.

We haven't had free market capitalism since Teddy Roosevelt, and what it was like before him was terrible. If you want to go back to that, feel free to check out some of the countries with no regulations over capitalism, like Somalia, etc.

Why can't you understand the difference between free market capitalism and crony capitalism, which is all we have today?

Answer 3

It is true that Wikipedia article on David Kock includes the following paragraph:

"Kimberly O. Dennis, of the libertarian Searle Freedom Trust, suggested in 2010 that the Kochs are acting against their economic interest in promoting 'getting government out of the business of running the economy. If they were truly interested in protecting their profits, they wouldn’t be spending so much to shrink government; they’d be looking for a bigger slice of the pie for themselves. Their funding is devoted to promoting free-market capitalism, not crony capitalism.' Dennis is on the board of several Koch-funded institutions, including Donors Trust, Donors Capital Fund, Property and Environment Research Center, and George Mason University."

It is difficult to believe that anyone would accept the comments from someone who in large part is dependent on the Koch brothers as a fact instead of propaganda.

It is also difficult to believe that anyone thinks that opensecrets.org web site gives numbers that actually reflect the amount of money spent on a candidate. Maybe they missed that fact that "non-profit political advocacy groups" such as Americans for Prosperity spend huge amount of money that is anonymous on "issue ads" that are not reported.

The only way we know how much the Koch brothers are planning to spend for the 2016 election cycle is that they have said they plan to spend "$889 million in the run-up to the 2016 elections — a historic sum that in many ways would mark Charles and David Koch and their fellow conservative megadonors as more powerful than the official Republican Party."

That is more money than the Republican National Committee and the Democratic National Committee combined will spend. Since that money will only be spent on candidates who support positions that will benefit the Koch brothers financially it is crony capitalism.

It is true that the Koch brothers support free market capitalism to the extent that they do not want regulations that prevent them from doing whatever the hell they want, sometimes regardless of the consequences for others.

I am old enough to remember when smog was so bad in some American cities that it literally killed people. I am old enough to remember when a river running through a major city could catch on fire because of all the pollutants dumped into it. I am glad we have regulations that nearly eliminated many of these and similar problems. We need regulations to prevent such abuse.

Because it is clear that the $889 million they will spend will only be used to support candidates that will support legislation they want, they are effectively buying candidates. That is crony capitalism by any reasonable definition of the term.

Answer 4

It's an easy formula to understand why they can't tell the difference.

Who fights for the never ending expansion and unregulated dissemination of welfare and public assistance?


Democrats. And the people who fight so passionately for it are the same people who must be utilizing it the most.

And between educated/skilled vs. uneducated/unskilled, who would rely more on said public assistance?

So you're essentially asking uneducated people to understand economical fundamentals that only educated people would know.

Which ALSO explains why dems can't seem to argue based on the issue and instead, consistently defer to the utilization of the race card. The never ending, exhaustively used, democrat go-to race card.

Answer 5

Actually the Koch Super PACs will raise more money than either the Democrat or Republican parties. That's not a republic - it's an oligarchy. You should not support this just because of your ideology - nobody should.

Answer 6

Our complaint against the Koch borothers is they seem to be using their wealth to corrupt the political system. Which has nothing to do with capitalism so much as capitalists tiltingthe playinfield against the little people. Whatever brand of corruption you wish to assgin to capitalism.

Answer 7

lmao
yea Citizens United and McCutchens was all about helping the poor man.
The Kochs have spent BILLIONS to buy democracy
stop being an uneducated brainwashed puppet for them to use

take an economics course for god's sake

Answer 8

Prove it. Prove to me that TWO democrats have spent more than 900 million dollars on one presidential election. Put up or shut up. I'll wait.

Answer 9

who has the RIGHT answer