From Emily Birnbaum’s “How the House’s Silicon Valley smackdown is dividing conservatives” posted Friday by Politico:
A set of bipartisan bills to rein in the power of the country’s largest tech companies is splintering the conservative movement, prompting a well-established set of Charles Koch-backed think tanks and advocacy groups to mobilize in defense of Facebook, Amazon, Apple and Google.
The fight is pitting the politically powerful Koch network, which advocates for the government to stay out of business, against major tech antagonists on the right like News Corp. executive chair Rupert Murdoch, who has spent years working behind the scenes to knife Facebook and Google. The Kochs’ opponents also include conservative donor Rebekah Mercer, a major backer of both Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign and the right-leaning social media network Parler.
The Kochs have spent decades funneling millions of dollars into free-market, libertarian and pro-tech groups across Washington to protect the tech industry from regulatory scrutiny. Groups advocating against the tech antitrust legislation received over $1.5 million altogether in 2019 alone from the Koch Foundation, according to the foundation’s financial records. Now that influence army is facing its most serious challenge yet as key GOP lawmakers, emboldened by anti-Silicon Valley fervor among the Trump-supporting Republican base, embrace five Democratic-led antitrust bills that aim to diminish the power of the tech giants.
“Getting down to the specifics of these bills, they range from bad to ugly,” said Patrick Hedger, vice president of policy for the Taxpayers Protection Alliance, which is funded in part by groups connected to the Kochs.
My take: $1.5 million? Is that all?
That’s all it took.
Koch isn’t the kind of person that forgets easily. I’ll bet Republicans that support those Bills will be remembered (negatively) come election time.
David C. needs to explain how his bills help the marginalized, the disenfranchised, in our society. W.r.t. Apple the key beneficiaries of David’s bill would be SPOT and EPIC.
Disclaimer: There are serious issues with the concentration of power and wealth due to the digital transformation. Privacy and safety are top issues. We need more enlightened thinking on this.
Now that a new generation of investors seems enthused perhaps more families will reap the benefits of owning shares. I really think a lack of knowledge about investing kept a significant % of lower wage earners out of the lion’s share of recent gains. That’s sure changed, though they’ll need to mature out of the meme/Bitcoin schemes.
I agree, but highly doubt you are going to get it from a politician. Politicians are going to pander, in short sounds bites, to a constituency that has virtually zero knowledge of the issue.
Enlightened thinking? Your talking today’s Republicans here.
(Admittedly a cheap shot — no political bashing here on Apple 3.0. I hereby apologize.)
I have not seen or heard from staunch conservatives with whom I know a push for trust busting of big tech companies, certainly not targeting Apple. While it is true many contemporary conservatives have become extremely contentious, confrontational & aggressive in nearly every area of politics & governing, this also is true as has many progressives on the left. This trend has led some legislators believing they are spearheading a fundamentally ethical movement (that has little underpinning from the common citizen) a trust-busting endeavor identified by a seemingly legitimate concern that big tech is an octopus with tentacles that harm consumers & small businesses alike. It also is a fundamental movement by some legislators to show that the United States is run by the federal government & not by self-interested capitalist with humongous bank accounts & no scruples.
“It also is a fundamental movement by some legislators to show that the United States is run by the federal government & not by self-interested capitalist with humongous bank accounts & no scruples.”
That’s correct. The United States IS run by the federal government…
…who happens to be influenced by self-interested capitalists with humongous bank accounts & no scruples.
The Koch’s and their very well-organized, well-funded network of one percenters work 365 days a year behind the scenes to push their agendas.
Lobbying Congress and state officials, funding federal and local candidates, pushing political appointments, and using think tanks to invent political grassroots social movements to achieve their goals.
They’ve been very successful indeed. They seeded and created the Tea Party, the anti-climate change believers, getting ultra-conservative judges appointed, funding colleges to have more conservative curriculums, and funded the early careers of Pence, Pompeo and Bolton, to name a few.
Ultimately, they have always wanted essentially the same two things: No regulations, and no taxes for the rich.
One big difference between Apple and Koch industries, is that Apple is a publicly traded company – very closely scrutinized – while Koch industries is privately owned. They are I believe, the biggest or second biggest privately held company in the U.S.
Note: While Apple is a staunch believer in sustainable energy, Koch Industries specializes in dirty energy. That oil pipeline from Canada was being built to take very dirty crude to Koch oil refineries.
This battle against “big gov’t” oversight goes to the heart of what the Koch’s stand for.
As the saying goes – the enemy of my enemy, is my friend.
Or to put it another way, weird bed fellows.
You weren’t doing too bad until you got to ‘no regs & no taxes’. Although the ‘one percenters’ I’m sure was meant to be a disqualifying characteristic, it really shows a group of very rich people who are willing to invest their time and money into the principles they feel are beneficial for the country, such as Mr Soros and others.
But the ‘no regs & taxes’ is really just a straw man, one easy to attack (or maybe you were just exaggerating to make a point?)
Also I found it interesting that you implied they are not closely scrutinized because they are private. Of course you didn’t say that, because you know it’s not true. (Just as any Trump Company). So you just implied it hoping the readers would conclude that?
Lastly, just curious, do you drive any ‘very dirty crude’ using cars? or electricity? Disclousure: our electricity comes from a local dam and I drive a Tesla. And I am a strong supporter of Apple’s position on sustainable energy.
I appreciate a liberal view point; I hope you don’t mind other perspectives.
“…do you drive any ‘very dirty crude’ using cars? or electricity?…I drive a Tesla.”
Strawman argument, know thyself….
Hardly. That’s a historical fact.
If you want to know the full history of the Kochs – how they’ve spent millions lobbying to change tax law to benefit themselves and the extremely wealthy; and eliminate regulations that allow more pollution from their refineries and other companies, read DARK MONEY by Jane Mayer.
It is a very well researched and detailed accounting. It supports everything I wrote. You might learn something.
FACT
What is often overlooked, is the large extent to which the Kochs’ policy preferences have prevailed under Trump. Trump’s major legislative achievement – his tax bill, which reduced corporate taxes from thirty-five to twenty-one per cent, was passed with the support of a twenty-million-dollar campaign by Americans for Prosperity, the Kochs’ nationwide advocacy group.
That tax bill redistributed wealth from the bottom and the middle to the top and created deficits that required additional cuts in government social spending, positions the Kochs have long embraced. To name just one of their recent accomplishments.
Here’s something a bit off topic, but interesting in order to appreciate who they are. The Koch brother’s father built oil refineries for both Nazi Germany and Stalin. The Koch brother’s nanny was in fact a member of the Nazi party and went back to Germany just before the war. Historical facts, not opinion.
Apple’s corporate philosophy and marketing strategy is to empower users. Apple can take care of itself. They don’t need help from the Kochs.
As a privately owned company with no stock traded, Koch Industries is not subject to the same oversight by gov’t agencies like the SEC.
It is a known fact that the Koch’s avoid scrutiny of their vast financial lobbying money network by holding (famously) private “secret” meetings with their network members and create privately funded Super Pacs and think tanks that only a few well resourced journalists have been able to research and report about.
Apple on the other hand, being a publicly traded company is an easier target for the DOJ and a lot of other govt oversight agencies.
The Koch’s are very secretive, and “following their money” is not easy, unlike a publicly traded company.
Again, I suggest you read DARK MONEY by Jane Mayer. She’s a senior editor at the New Yorker. You might learn something.
I take public transportation.
It appears you missed the point. The term “dirty crude”, as opposed to “sweet crude” refers to crude oil that is very high in pollutants and requires a lot more refining – and so it produces a lot more pollution into the air to refine.
The Canadian tar sands oil that the Koch’s lobbied hard to bring through the infamous pipeline – is very dirty crude. it was intended to be piped directly to the Koch oil refineries. Their refineries specialize in very dirty crude, contributing to more pollution in the U.S.
This is goes hand-in-glove with the Koch’s climate change denying campaign – which didn’t exist until they seeded the money to create it, and their ongoing lobbying to stop pollution regulations. These are facts, not opinions.
I was disappointed but not surprised when I recommended a book (“The Inclusive Economy” by Michael Tanner) to my wife’s book club, and they rejected it solely because Tanner’s employer (Cato Institute) accepts funding from the Kochs.