The Kochs, Again

I never expected I’d be writing about the Koch brothers again so soon.   But once again, they’re up to something big and bad as ever.  Two things, actually.

First, the law the House has voted to repeal nearly forty times in the last six moths:

I know exactly why they played that melancholy music in the background.  To prevent people like me from laughing.

First, Julie, you don’t have to worry about Caleb’s health care.   Believe it or not, you will still be able to pick your own doctor.

Julie, it seems to me like you’ve been watching too much Fox News.

The Koch brothers’ organization that funded that advertisement is called Americans for Prosperity.  It should be called Americans for Making Rich People Richer.  The Kochs, who are filthy rich, are paying to try to make regular middle class repeal a bill that prevents them from being denied coverage due to a pre-existing condition.

Now, Caleb will not be denied insurance coverage because of his seizures.  And he will never have to worry about life-time caps on coverage.

Now, let’s talk minimum wages.

According to Koch, the minimum wage discourages people from starting small businesses.  Because you could hire as many people as you want if you paid them a dollar an hour.

Actually, what abolishing the minimum wage will do is encourage WalMart and McDonald’s to pay workers less so they can make more profits.  WalMart is threatening to stop building stores in DC if they raise the minimum wage.  Why?  Because big corporations can’t make the huge profits they used to if they have to pay everybody $12.50 an hour.

I think WalMart can probably pay all those people $12.50 an hour just fine.  They just don’t want to give up the profits.

Why the Hell is the Right so Obsessed with Stupid Pledges?

I [undersigned] pledge to

ONE, oppose any and all efforts to increase the marginal income tax rates for individuals and/or businesses; and

TWO, oppose any net reduction or elimination of deductions and credits, unless matched dollar for dollar by further reducing tax rates.

First it was Grover Norquist’s No Tax Pledge, above.  There’s another one, courtesy of right-wing billionaires David and Charles Koch.

I, ______________________, pledge to the taxpayers of the state of _______________ and to the American people that I will oppose any legislation relating to climate change that includes a net increase in government revenue.

There is a common theme here.  They are not pledging to support building bridges, repair roads or create jobs.  As a matter of fact, they are pledging just the opposite: to stop change and prevent America from becoming better.

Congressional inaction has become a theme of the 113th Congress to the point that Barack Obama’s climate change package was mad up entirely of things that could be accomplished solely with executive power.  In other words,  Obama knew that Congress wouldn’t do a thing about this issue, so his emissions reductions plan focused solely on things he can do without Congress’s help.  And although Rush Limbaugh doesn’t know it, there are limits on the president’s power.

The most important thing this pledge is stopping would be a Carbon Tax, a tax with benefits I could write a whole post about, most notably that it would encourage innovation that would grow the economy and create jobs.

Although the Koch brothers have an apparently limited knowledge of science (David once said about climate change that “The Earth will be able to support enormously more people because a far greater land area will be available to produce food.”), they will also benefit monetarily from a lack of legislation.  Only one percenters will.  The rest of America will be crippled as the effects of pollution and global warming become clear.  Yet Republicans in Congress do not seem to care about the fate of working America (and not surprisingly, as they tend to be rich themselves with a poor knowledge of science).  That, my friends, is extremism.