Posts Tagged ‘Texas’

Corruption with a Capital “C”

September 29, 2014

From the musical “The Music Man”

“Trouble, oh we got trouble,

Right here in River City!

With a capital ‘T’

That rhymes with ‘P’

And that stands for ‘Pool'”

In this case the “pool” is millions of our “pooled” business incentive funds inappropriately doled out by Texas Republican leaders, often to Republican political donors.

Connect the dots:

  • Texas creates the Cancer Prevention Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT), the 2nd largest funder of cancer research. An official in that organization was indicted for dispensing funds inappropriately.
  • Texas creates the Major Events Trust Fund to draw major events to the state. The San Antonio Express-News is reporting discrepancies with the $250 million application for Formula One racing.
  • Texas creates the Texas Enterprise Fund to draw large employers to the state. An audit revealed funds were dispensed without proper review, some without the recipient even submitting any application at all.
  • Rick Perry is indicted for using his authority to coerce removal of the Travis County District Attorney who oversees the Public Integrity Unit which is responsible for prosecuting State corruption. He wanted her resignation so he could appoint her replacement – 3 guesses why.

It’s not as though incentive programs aren’t a good thing; they are. But these cronies have been going about it all wrong and that speaks directly to your vote in the November election. They’ve run these programs without adequate oversight, transparency and accountability to prevent corruption and abuse from which they politically benefited.

The central players in these scams are:

  • Texas Governor Rick Perry appointed officials running these funds – and the officials themselves, one already indicted.
  • Attorney General Greg Abbott failed to exercise direct oversight responsibility for CPRIT and general oversight responsibility for all State transactions. He also ruled as Attorney General that the public wasn’t entitled to see applications submitted to the Texas Enterprise Fund.
  • The Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts failed to set up and follow transparency and financial accountability of these funds.

Are your dots connected? Even some Republicans realize they need to save their party from itself. Vote for the “best people for the job” to end this corruption: Wendy Davis for Governor, Sam Houston for Attorney General, Mike Collier for Comptroller. All have proven themselves honest, expert in their fields, and devoted to the people of Texas.

Tags:, , ,
Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »

How the Koch Brothers Mess With the Texas Environment (Revised)

August 11, 2011

(Note:  This is a revision of the earlier article of the same name made after I received more information about Koch Industries manipulation of oil commodity prices)

Remember the old saying “What’s good for business is good for Texas?”  Perhaps that old saw just won’t cut it anymore. The “Billionaire Brothers Koch” apparently believe that what’s good specifically for THEIR business is good for YOU, Mr and Ms Texan.

Koch Industries, the second largest privately held US corporation, has subsidiaries in all but a few states. They earn $100 billion each year marketing a wide array of products.  Subsidiaries are all over Texas, including Flint Hills Resources, Koch Pipeline Company, INVISTA, Georgia-Pacific, Koch Supply & Trading, Koch Carbon, Koch Pulp & Paper Trading, Koch Agriculture Company (including the Matador Ranch), Koch Chemical Technology Group, and Koch Nitrogen Company.

They refine and supply oil, gas and chemicals (with a web of pipelines and terminals in every major Texas city), fabrics like nylon, spandex and polyester polymers (e.g., STAINMASTER® carpet and COOLMAX® fabric), construction materials like wallboard, pulp, paper and tissue, and cattle and horses.  Furthermore, they trade commodities and derivatives in financial markets.

To distort the information base from which public policy is derived, the Koch brothers have created and/or helped fund foundations and “think tanks” like the Cato Institute, the Heritage Foundation, the Institute for Policy Innovation, and the Texas Public Policy Foundation.

But that’s not all:  They’ve injected their ideology into public institutions of higher education such as the Mercatus Center at George Mason University in Virginia.  Recently, Charles Koch donated $1.5 million to Florida State University’s economics program with strings attached allowing him approval of professors hired.  Individually and through the Association of Private Enterprise Education, the Kochs fund dozens of university programs with similar strings, such as a focus on specific research benefiting their industries and installing “pre-trained,” industry-friendly professors.

But that’s not all:  They have funded and informed a variety of political advocacy groups, their “boots on the ground,” to spread the corporate ideology across the land – e.g., Americans for Prosperity, Citizens for a Sound Economy, Citizens for the Environment, FreedomWorks, the Independent Women’s Forum and, most recently, tea party groups.

But that’s not all:  After the Citizens United Supreme Court decision awarding 1st Amendment personhood rights to corporations, in 2010 Koch Industries directly enlisted their 50,000 employees into political action on behalf of KOCHPAC, supplying them with lists of favored candidates for whom it was “suggested” they campaign and vote.  Through this and through campaign and “outside” funding, they succeeded in electing tea party Republicans who are currently wrecking havoc on our state and nation.

The public policies that benefit Koch Industries stretch too far across the political spectrum to cover in one article.  However, prime policy goals are the rollback of environmental and safety standards, the weakening of environmental enforcement and prevention of citizen action against polluters.

Through sympathetic appointees and elected officials they have succeeded in weakening the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ), most recently making it harder for citizens to contest permits granted.  In 2009, the US EPA stated that TCEQ’s pollution rules did not fulfill the requirements of the Clean Air Act and were inadequate for protecting our air and water.  The Koch Industries solution is to just do away with the EPA instead of upgrading TCEQ, and they recently succeeded in getting Congress to cut EPA funds.

The Independent Women’s Forum attacks public school curricula regarding what they call the “junk science” of man-made global climate change.  The Koch-backed political machine is fighting market-based strategies such as “cap and trade” which account for the cost of carbon discharges. Meanwhile, in other countries they profit from trading carbon credits. Their raft of lawyers and lobbyists fought the designation of dioxin and formaldehyde as a cancer risks.

Koch commodity traders invented the speculative oil derivative in 1986 and obtained market deregulation in the 1990s. In 2009 Koch Industries boasted of being one of the world’s top five oil speculators.  The financial reform bill in 2009 ordered that oil speculation again be regulated but Koch and other oil speculators are fighting it tooth and nail. The price spikes of 2008 and today have not been caused by oil supply problems. Oil company CEO’s recently testified to Congress that prices would be 30-40% lower without market speculation.

This anti-environment agenda benefits Koch Industries bottom line.  It’s costly to meet environmental and safety standards, and Koch Industries has paid millions in penalties for their environmental catastrophes.  Some of many examples:  In the mid 90s, they paid $33 million in fines and committed to $5 million in environmental projects for 300 spills discharging 3 million gallons of oil.  In 1999, they were found negligent in the deaths of two Texas teenagers from a leaky underground butane pipeline.

Doing the right thing might have been easier, but Koch Industries instead backs “tort reform” to limit the ability of injured parties to sue for damages and make “losers pay” if they are outmatched by corporate attorneys.

Texans, are these public policies good for you?  Does it matter to you that Texas leads the nation in toxic chemicals in water, in carcinogens and carbon dioxide in the air?  If Texas was a nation it would rank 7th in the world in total carbon dioxide emissions.

Is it good for your children to NOT learn the science of global climate change?  Are you willing to bet THEIR future on the remote chance that all the pertinent organizations and countless reputable climate scientists are wrong?

If you or your family were injured by the actions of heavy industries, is it OK with you that seeking compensation through the courts is curtailed?  Will you not get cancer from exposure to dioxin or formaldehyde just because they say so?

When you hear their spokespersons call for the elimination of the “onerous” EPA or “burdensome” financial regulations ask yourself if those agencies and regulations are as much an onerous burden on you as is the haze in Big Bend National Park or the price of gas inflated by unrestrained market speculation.

What’s good for Koch Industries is not good for Texas or for the nation. And they are not alone at the trough of public policy that is really corporate welfare. But, unless we rethink old sayings, get the facts, stand up, speak out, and demand government policies that serve the interests of the people, not the corporations, one of these days we may find the formerly great state of Texas listed among the “subsidiaries” of corporations like Koch Industries.

Tags:, ,
Posted in Politics | Leave a Comment »

How the Koch Brothers Mess With the Texas Environment

May 21, 2011

Remember the old saying “What’s good for business is good for Texas?”  Well, maybe that old saw just won’t cut it anymore. The “Billionaire Brothers Koch” apparently think not only what’s good for business in general is good for Texas, they also think what’s good specifically for THEIR business is good for YOU, Mr and Ms Texan.  Do you buy that?

Koch Industries is the second largest privately held US corporation, with subsidiaries in all but a few states. They rake in $100 billion each year by selling us a wide array of products.  They’re all over Texas with subsidiaries including Flint Hills Resources, Koch Pipeline Company, INVISTA, Georgia-Pacific, Koch Supply & Trading, Koch Carbon, Koch Pulp & Paper Trading, Koch Agriculture Company (including the Matador Ranch), Koch Chemical Technology Group, and Koch Nitrogen Company.

Their businesses are refining and supplying oil, gas and chemicals, with a web of pipelines and terminals in every major Texas city, fabrics like nylon, spandex and polyester polymers (e.g., STAINMASTER® carpet and COOLMAX® fabric), construction materials like wallboard, pulp, paper and tissue, and cattle and horse ranching.  Furthermore, they also trade in the commodities they sell and derivatives in financial markets.

It’s easy to see what public policies would be good for Koch Industries.  But maybe we need to examine these policies and ask, “Are these good for me, my family, my neighbors, my business, my community, my state and nation?”  Is what’s good for Koch Industries really good for the rest of us?

To distort the information base from which public policy is derived, the Koch brothers have created and/or helped fund foundations and “think tanks” like the Cato Institute, the Heritage Foundation, the Institute for Policy Innovation, and the Texas Public Policy Foundation.

But that’s not all:  They’ve also injected their ideology into public institutions of higher education such as the Mercatus Center at George Mason University in Virginia.  Charles Koch donated $1.5 million to Florida State University’s economics program with strings attached allowing him approval of professors hired.  Individually and through the Association of Private Enterprise Education, the Kochs fund dozens of university programs with similar strings attached such as a focus on specific research benefiting Koch Industries and installing “pre-trained,” Koch-friendly professors.

But that’s not all:  They have funded and informed a variety of political advocacy groups, their “boots on the ground,” to spread the corporate ideology across the land – e.g., Americans for Prosperity, Citizens for a Sound Economy, Citizens for the Environment, FreedomWorks, the Independent Women’s Forum and most recently, tea party groups.

But that’s not all:  After the Citizens United Supreme Court decision awarding 1st Amendment personhood rights to corporations, in 2010 Koch Industries directly enlisted their 50,000 employees into political action on behalf of KOCHPAC, including supplying them with lists of favored candidates for whom it was “suggested” they campaign and vote.  Through this and through campaign and “outside” funding, they succeeded in getting elected a whole raft of tea party Republicans who are currently wrecking havoc on our state and nation.

The public policies that benefit Koch Industries stretch too far across the political spectrum to cover in one article.  However, prime policy goals are the rollback of environmental and safety standards, the weakening of environmental enforcement and prevention of citizen action against polluters.

Through sympathetic appointees and elected officials they have succeeded in weakening the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ), most recently making it harder for citizens to contest the granting of permits.  In 2009, the US EPA stated that TCEQ’s pollution rules did not fulfill the requirements of the Clean Air Act and were inadequate for protecting our air and water.  The Koch Industries solution is to just do away with the EPA instead of upgrading TCEQ and they recently succeeded in getting Congress to cut EPA funds.

The Independent Women’s Forum attacks public school curricula regarding what they call the “junk science” of man-made global climate change.  The Koch-backed political machine is fighting market-based strategies such as “cap and trade” which accounts for the cost of carbon discharges.  (Meanwhile, Koch companies trade carbon emission credits in Europe.)  Their raft of lawyers and lobbyists fought the designation of dioxin as a cancer risk and regulation of the financial (commodity trading) markets.

This anti-environment agenda works to the benefit of Koch Industries bottom line.  It costs money to meet environmental and safety standards, and Koch Industries has spent a pretty penny paying for their own environmental catastrophes.  Some of many examples:  In the mid 90s, they paid $33 million in fines and committed to $5 million in environmental projects for 300 spills discharging 3 million gallons of oil.  In 1999, they were found guilty of negligence in the deaths of two Texas teenagers from a leaky underground butane pipeline and paid an undisclosed settlement.

Doing the right thing might have been easier, but Koch Industries instead backed “tort reform” to limit the ability of injured parties to sue for damages and make “losers pay” if they are outmatched by corporate attorneys.  Texas elected higher court judges consistently rule in favor of corporations over individual citizens – the best judiciary money can buy….for the Koch brothers.

Texans, are these public policies that benefit Koch Industries good for you?  Does it matter to you that Texas leads the nation in toxic chemicals in water, in carcinogens and carbon dioxide in the air?  If Texas was a nation it would rank 7th in the world in total carbon dioxide emissions.

Is it good for your children that the science of global climate change is stripped from their school curriculum?  Are you willing to bet THEIR future on the outside chance that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and countless reputable climate scientists are wrong?

If you or your family were injured by their actions, would it be OK with you if your access to the courts to seek compensation would be curtailed?  Will you not get cancer from exposure to dioxin just because they say so?

When you hear their spokespersons call for the elimination of the “onerous” EPA or “burdensome” financial regulations ask yourself if those agencies and regulations are as much an onerous burden on you as is the haze in Big Bend National Park or the price of gas inflated by unrestrained market speculation.

What’s good for Koch Industries is not good for Texas or for the nation. And they are not alone at the trough of public policies that amount to corporate welfare. But, unless we rethink old sayings, get the facts, stand up, speak out, and demand government policies that serve the interests of the people, not the corporations, one of these days we may find the formerly great state of Texas listed among the “subsidiaries” of corporations like Koch Industries.

Tags:, , ,
Posted in Politics | Leave a Comment »

Senator Hutchison Misinforms on the Economy

September 12, 2010

It’s a shame that Texas is stuck with Senators Hutchison and Cornyn, Republicans who never fail to support corporations and big money over middle income Texans, and small businesses.  Senator Hutchison lately used her bully pulpit to spread misinformation about the economy in her op-ed titled “Low taxes and spending restraint are key to economic recovery.”   The title and article are historically and economically wrong.  It has been debunked by factcheck.org.  See http://factcheck.org/2010/09/2011-tax-increases/

She claims the Bush tax cuts of 2001 resulted in job creation and increased economic activity. In reality they drove up the deficit, created no new jobs, were a huge giveaway to wealth and contributed to economic collapse.  This “trickle-down” economics was so wrong for our country that it barely squeezed through Congress on budget reconciliation with a 10-year expiration. Bush then took us into two unfunded wars and held war spending out of the general budget so it wouldn’t show in the deficit.  These maneuvers were budgetary time bombs left to explode today. Yet Republicans pretend that President Obama created most of the deficit.

Senator Hutchison must think we’re very forgetful.  But, we remember, what she doesn’t mention – the tax cuts that 95% of working Americans received in the stimulus last year.  The Recovery and Reinvestment Act she voted AGAINST, contained tax cuts, credits and grants to individuals, businesses, states and local government to mitigate the recession. Republicans now claim the stimulus hasn’t worked; in truth it kept us from falling into total depression, and saved or created millions of jobs, partially offsetting huge losses.  Of the total $787 billion, Texas has spent over half of its $23.3 billion allocation.  Those are our tax dollars coming back to help us.

The stimulus should have been larger (no thanks to Republicans) and more is needed now with economic growth still too slow and unemployment too high.  Each dollar of certain stimulus spending, such as unemployment insurance, infrastructure improvements and assistance to state and local government, generates more than a dollar in economic growth.  Tax cuts don’t do that and they increase the deficit. The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office said that if we had done as Republicans wanted in 2009 we would today have fewer jobs and higher deficits. Still, Hutchison advocates the same-old same-old.

She falsely claims President Obama intends to raise everyone’s taxes, calling it the “largest tax hike in our nation’s history.”  Not true!  The expiration of the tax cuts is coming up, but the Obama Administration proposes to keep the cuts that benefit middle America and small businesses.  The taxes for incomes over $200,000 single and $250,000 per couple would rise a measly 3%.  Only 3% of those above those incomes are small business owners.

They claim raising taxes will harm the economy and reduces job creation. However, tax cuts on high incomes do not create jobs or boost the economy.  When those in that income range have extra income they tend to save not spend it. Also, historically when higher incomes were taxed at a much higher rate, our economy was strong.

When middle- and low-income Americans receive a tax cut, they spend it immediately. This demand for goods and services creates jobs and those jobs, in turn, create more demand and other jobs. Consumer demand accounts for 70% of the output of the economy.  Plus, taxes are paid on those salaries, which helps reduce the deficit. We can only dig ourselves out of recession by boosting demand and fight deficits by building back a strong economy.  Recently, CEOs were polled as to why they were not expanding their businesses and creating jobs now with the tax incentives they’ve been given.  These business owners validated the demand-driven economy by saying they were holding off because they were uncertain that demand for their products and services was going to rise.  Apparently, we need to create more demand not give more play money to the wealthy.

Senator Hutchison summoned our hankies to mourn the “unfair death tax.”  Give me a break!  They call it a “death tax” to obscure what the estate tax really is, a tax on inherited wealth, the least deserved form of income.  The heirs did nothing to earn it except pick the right parents.  Historically, we have taxed large estates at a high rate in recognition of the fact that accumulation of such wealth is enabled by government infrastructure, economic rules, and subsidies.  The heirs owe some of that largess back to us.  Furthermore, this tax encourages charitable and philanthropic donations.  This year the estate tax is zero, but it will revert to older rates next year because Republicans refused to negotiate on the estate minimum size criteria and the tax rate.  Several bills are pending that capture this much-needed revenue while excluding small businesses. To please their large estate-holding supporters, the “Party of No” opposes them.

Republicans have destroyed their credibility by opposing every single measure to truly rebuild our economy. The last thing they enthusiastically supported was the TARP bailout for big financials enacted in the fall of 2008.  Yes, that’s right, the bank bailout was Bush’s deal, not Obama’s.  Now, President Obama has been somewhat successful in getting that money back.  And Republicans further damage their credibility by attacking deficit spending needed to boost demand. Yet when advocating tax cuts for the wealthy, they claim the deficit is irrelevant. And, America, when they repeatedly yelled “No” they were saying it to all of us!

Here’s the bottom line:  This recession was not caused by working Americans and small businesses, nor by the poor, homeowners, minority groups or immigrants.  It was caused by the banksters, large corporations and Wall Street with the help of the government they dominated and from which they got tax cuts, deregulation and subsidies over a quarter century. Republicans want to keep that sweet deal going and they will demonize and misinform to do it. Democrats are applying the right remedies, but it is going to take some time. They’re on our side so let’s keep them working.

Tags:,
Posted in Politics | Leave a Comment »