Home > Uncategorized > Rob Bradley in Koch Wonderland: a 'Libertarian' uses his fossil fuel PR front to trumpet the 'principled entrepreneurship' of his rent-seeking benefactor

Rob Bradley in Koch Wonderland: a 'Libertarian' uses his fossil fuel PR front to trumpet the 'principled entrepreneurship' of his rent-seeking benefactor

Of course none of the Koch brothers (among the wealthiest Americans), the oil and other companies they own, nor the people they directly or indirectly employ – including Rob Bradley, who founded the oil-funded Institute for Energy Research and runs the ‘free market’ Master Resource blog (where yours truly is persona non grata) – is evil personified (us libertarians save that label for villains on the left, like George Soros, Al Gore and nasty enviros), but the Kochs’ efforts to seek favors from government and to protect those already earned is rather hard to miss:

http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Koch_Industries

http://climateprogress.org/2010/03/31/report-koch-industries-outspends-exxon-mobil-on-climate-and-clean-energy-disinformation/

http://climateprogress.org/2010/07/22/koch-industries-afp-tea-party-founded/

http://www.desmogblog.com/koch-industries-extensive-funding-climate-denial-industry-unmasked

http://climateprogress.org/2010/04/05/koch-industries-thinks-calling-people-%E2%80%98hitler-youth%E2%80%99-is-an-%E2%80%98honest-debate%E2%80%99/

http://www.greenpeace.org/usa/campaigns/global-warming-and-energy/polluterwatch/koch-industries/institute-for-energy-research/

http://motherjones.com/environment/2009/12/dirty-dozen-climate-change-denial-12-institute-energy-research

http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/paltman/who_are_these_guys_yet_more_po.html

http://www.fightcleanenergysmears.org/behind_the_smears.cfm

http://newledger.com/2010/08/who-are-the-koch-brothers/

In the face of the Koch brothers’ rent-seeking efforts, Rob Bradley’s recent praise at Master Resource of Koch Industries, Inc. for a “corporate call to principled action” is notable for its astonishing chutzpah and/or self-deception. 

Says Bradley, in reprinting a pre-election message from the Koch Industries newsletter (the message itself is not particularly objectionable):

In a sea of political capitalism and rent-seeking by corporations, it is refreshing to see a principled defense of capitalism from the business sector.

Further:

Koch’s Principled Entrepreneurship™ is just the opposite of Ken Lay and Enron’s political capitalism model.

If the Left is suspicious of corporativism, and if they do their homework, they might just repect the intellectualism behind privately held Koch.

Hah – this can be true only if Bradley’s trademarked “Principled Entrepreneurship” means unlimited, secretive corporate spending designed to directly affect the political and regulatory environment (the Koch’s have recently spent about $50 million on funding climate change ‘skepticism’)! For libertarians these days, does “up” mean “down”?

Well, I suppose that it’s not surprising if one’s views may be influenced by the hand that feeds them.

Oh, the rent-seeking games that we have fallen into!

Does anyone still NOT see where the favors government gives to corporations – starting with the initial grant of limited liability to shareholders – has led us?

PS: I just tried to leave the following comment at Master Resource, but it was rejected; Master Resource is not open for comment by critical libertarians:

Rob, how much money do firms that practice “Principled Entrepreneurship™” spend on trying to purchase regulatory and legal favors? Inquiring minds want to know.

Sky’s the limit, as long as the rent-seeker in question professes to prefer “free markets” (while ignoring statism inherent in the grant of limited liability to shareholders, in regulations that license pollution and serve as barriers to entry, and in continuing government ownership of leased resources)?

Tom

PS: Rob Bradley in Koch Wonderland: a ‘Libertarian’ uses his fossil fuel PR front to trumpet the ‘principled entrepreneurship’ of his rent-seeking benefactor – TT’s Lost in Tokyo http://bit.ly/ccG8Op

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