Why am I focused on the Koch Brothers these days? They are anti-democracy, anti-union, anti-tax, anti-regulation, and anti-environment. They have one of the worst records of serious pollution violations. They also are hell-bent on eliminating the EPA. They founded the Mercatus Center particularly to advance their anti-EPA agenda. Why would they do that? They own 4,000 miles of oil pipeline in the U.S. They own Valero oil and think it is perfectly acceptable to pollute the air I breathe, the water I drink, and the land beneath my feet.
From Source Watch:
The Mercatus Center was founded and is funded by the Koch Family Foundations. According to financial records, the Koch family has contributed more than thirty million dollars to George Mason, much of which has gone to the Mercatus Center, a nonprofit organization. Democratic strategist Rob Stein described the Mercatus Center as “ground zero for deregulation policy in Washington.”
The Mercatus Center has engaged in campaigns involving deregulation, especially environmental deregulation. It now fills the role once played by the economics department at Chicago University as the originator of extreme neoliberal ideas. Fourteen of the 23 regulations that George W Bush put on his hitlist were, according to the Wall Street Journal, first suggested by academics working at the Mercatus Centre.
Find out more in Jane Mayers interview, Part II, Koch Brothers, Rich, Political and Playing to Win;
