Koch, Walmart, Blackwater, Amway. The fascist faces revealed.

[Fuddnik]

As if you ever really need an excuse to boycott Walmart. These fascist billionaires are making their final assault on the American working class.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Behind Michigan's "Financial Martial Law": Corporations and Right-Wing Billionaires
The think tank that inspired Gov. Rick Snyder's controversial bill is bankrolled by some of the same donors that funded Wisconsin's attack on unions.

— By Andy Kroll

http://motherjones.com/politics/2011/03/michigan-snyder-mackinac-center

Wed Mar. 23, 2011 12:01 AM PDT

Last week, Michigan's Republican Governor Rick Snyder signed into law a fiercely contested bill giving unelected "emergency financial managers" unprecedented power to shred union contracts, privatize city services, and consolidate or dissolve local governments, all in the name of saving struggling cities and school districts. Dubbed "financial martial law" by one approving state GOP lawmaker and "disaster capitalism" by critics, Snyder and his bill have become a target for Wisconsin-like protests. Several thousand demonstrators marched on the Michigan Capitol in the days before Snyder signed the bill. But gone unmentioned is a little-known Michigan think tank that for years has been pushing for the most controversial provisions in Snyder's bill—and that's bankrolled by some of the same right-wing millionaires and billionaires that backed Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and his anti-union legislation.

Since 2005, the Mackinac Center for Public Policy has urged reforms to Michigan law giving more power and protection to emergency financial managers, state-appointed officials who parachute into ailing cities or school districts and employ drastic measures to fix budgets on the brink of collapse. In January, the free-market-loving center published four recommendations, including granting emergency managers the power to override elected officials (such as a mayor or school board member) and toss out union contracts. All four ended up in Snyder's legislation.

(snip)

Mackinac is part of a network of state-based groups associated with the Heritage Foundation, the influential right-wing think tank in Washington. Its past and present board members include Robert Teeter, a GOP strategist and '92 campaign manager for George H.W. Bush; Margaret Rieker, a former vice chairwoman of the Republican National Committee; and Joseph Lehman, a former vice president at the libertarian Cato Institute in Washington.

The Mackinac Center does not disclose its donors. But a review of tax records shows that the group's funders include the charitable foundations of the nation's largest corporations and a host of wealthy conservative and libertarian benefactors. Between 2002 and 2009, the Mackinac Center's donors included the Charles G. Koch Foundation ($69,151), founded by the chairman and CEO of Koch Industries, who, with his brother, David, is a major backer of conservative causes; the Dick and Betsy DeVos Foundation ($80,000), the charity tied to the son of the co-founder of Amway, the multibillion-dollar direct marketing company; the Edgar and Elsa Prince Foundation, established by the parents of Blackwater founder Erik Prince, who serves as the foundation's vice president ($195,000); and the Walton Family Foundation ($100,000), established by Wal-Mart founder Sam Walton and his wife, Helen.

(snip)more

[Oceansaway]

1. K&R...n/t

[hamerfan]

2. K&R!

:kick:

[AlecBGreen]

3. they dont even try to hide it any more

will this country wake up in time?

[cyberpj]

5. No need when there's no real investigative reporting done on network news anymore.

Even if 'this country' watched anymore.

[russspeakeasy]

11. So damned true it hurts.

[Enthusiast]

13. That is right.

There's no real investigative reporting done.

Mostly it's just Fox News telling people what to think and they just nod their heads.

[dotymed]

24. Luckily, on Dish teevee

on an obscure channel, 9415, Free Speech teevee has "DEMOCRACY NOW",it does give the only American investigative journalism that I know of. Thank you Amy and Juan. Jeremy Scahil never ceases to amaze me. He is a great investigative journalist.

[Enthusiast]

27. I get it too.

Wonderful channel. If only 10% of America would tune in we could save our democracy.

[cyberpj]

33. I don't get that but I get Current TV and their Vanguard shows are also excellent. nt

[kimsarah]

22. Investigative reporting

Overall, networks never did do much digging or airing reports on political corruption, and do even less now, thanks to tighter reins placed on newsrooms by the corporate owners. It used to be that New York Times, Washington Post or Vanity Fair investigative stories got picked up and reported on by the networks and by Associated Press -- a watered-down organization these days, thanks to staff reductions, that still supplies most small and medium-sized papers with state, nation and world news. Newspapers themselves are at the same mercy of shrinking newsrooms and news budgets, shrinking ad dollars and greedier owners who are in bed with the corporate types and their political pawns. Seems this has been the trend for at least the last decade, steered by the Kochs and Murdochs of the world. The cockroach tea-baggers want to crush any and all in-depth reporting, wipe out every liberal news outlet possible and leave Americans to get their news spoon-fed to them by bland, incompetent or outlandish right-wing radio and TV. And if the peons of journalism still get through the cracks with enlightening investigative pieces that shine too much light on the truth, the game is to discredit and try to embarrass the peons with an en-masse campaigns. The bright side is, the Internet has given us a newer place to look for quality in-depth reporting, on MSNBC and sites such as this one, Firedog Lake, Rolling Stone, The Nation, Salon, Mother Jones, AlterNet, Talking Points Memo, Think Progress, Crooks and Liars, etc. I'm not counting on the ABCs, CBSs, NBCs, Faux Newses or CNNs to show much improvement anytime soon.

[kimsarah]

23. Also

I'm thankful for The Raw Story, Young Turks and Media Matters. A great job by Rachel and her staff on the report of the Gulf oil spill blowout preventer failure and the idiotic government approving new drilling permits based on pre-spill data after praising all the improvements made since the spill. And to Dylan for showcasing the two reporters who broke the Koch Brothers story a year and a half ago, then having to withstand all the flak until someone took them seriously.

[cyberpj]

32. Yes, but...

instead of rewriting it, see my msg #31:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=103&topic_id=594460&mesg_id=594742

[Fuddnik]

36. There's a new one starting up, probably in June.

Corporatist Nation.com.

[cyberpj]

31. I'm familiar with all that you mention but the problem is most of us go to separate media corners

now and while informative and what we believe is more truthful, those bright side places are still preaching to the choir. While the other corner preaches to theirs. News used to be what was determined to be the truth on the basis of current information and real experts. And 60 minutes did some breakthrough exposure stories in it's day when everyone watched that show. Now, by purpose, there isn't much middle ground of consensus of the truth; only multiple media sources devoted to keeping us apart and at each other instead of united and aimed at the right targets.

Just wanted to mention, re MSNBC's Richard Engle - their middle east journalist is doing some mighty good reporting almost a bit too close to some real danger zones. You just don't see many like that one any more. Good job Engle but stay safe!

[kimsarah]

35. Agreed

Many people want to see more informative, in-depth news on a major network that appeals to a broad audience, such as what 60-Minutes used to do. Of course that isn't happening nowadays, for a variety of reasons. Many people's attention spans are too short, and everything is watered down to please everybody, when the news ends up pleasing nobody. We get wishy-washy junk. To get what we want, it's going to have to be from the bottom on up. And that is well under way. Just in the past couple years, some web sites have already grown by leaps and bounds with readership numbers and greater mainstream appeal. Hopefully, someday we can all be on the same page. By the way, I think some mergers of our favorite sites are possible. But I'm hoping that any such deals aren't with the likes of AOL or Goldman Sachs.

[Historic NY]

4. K&R

[bluedigger]

6. When you're being robbed blind, follow the money.

These fuckers lie awake nights thinking of ways to take our money.

[starroute]

7. The State Policy Network is the umbrella organization for these groups

See http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=State_Policy_Network for a list of member. Mackinac is a member, along with many other public policy groups. Associate members include ALEC, Americans for Prosperity, Norquist's Americans for Tax Reform, the Cato Institute, FreedomWorks, the Leadership Institute, the National Center for Public Policy Research (Jack Abramoff's old pals), the Heritage Foundation, and almost any other major free market group or legal foundation you ever heard of.


http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/state-policy-network

# SPN is a national network of state-based right-wing organizations in 37 states as well as prominent nationwide right-wing organizations. Through its network SPN advances the public policy ideas of the expansive right-wing political movement on the state and local level.

# Due to SPN's state think tank network, smaller organizations have met with success by following the Heritage Foundation model of extensive public relations to court the media and politicians in an effort to have more impact on public policy. The agenda of Heritage and most of SNP's network members are nearly identical: privatization of most public services and hostility to public education.

[guruoo]

8. Boost search results, connect the terms "emergency financial managers"+"financial martial law" ....

emergency financial managers
financial martial law
republican


Googling the search terms "emergency financial managers"+"financial martial law"+republican
http://www.google.com/search?q=%22emergency+financial+managers%22%2B%22financial+martial+law%22%2Brepublican&hl=en&biw=1600&bih=725&bav=on.2%2Cor.r_gc.r_pw.&emsg=NCSR&noj=1&ei=asyMTYGqLoT0swOWntD2CA&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=

[bobthedrummer]

9. K&R n/t

[PatSeg]

10. What a "charitable" bunch they are!

[alp227]

12. isn't Amway really scammy and unethical as with most direct marketers?

but good article, I shall bookmark this!

[Recursion]

16. Amway is an MLM

You make money not from customers buying your products, but from people you recruited (your "downline") buying it from you in the vain hopes of selling it to customers (or the slightly-less-vain hopes of selling them to someone even more gullible that they recruited). You can actually make a lot of money on Amway, but only if you're willing to really screw people over.

The most Orwellian part about it is they claim they "cut out the middle man" when their entire business model is to get as many middlemen in there as possible.

[Fuddnik]

37. About 10 years ago, my dentist tried to get me involved in Scamway.

He used to have a full waiting room, and after a year or so, his partner had left, and his waiting room was empty.

[OwnedByFerrets]

14. Its an all out war and we are in the crosshairs

[Recursion]

15. The Wal~Mart coming to DC may be unionized

I'd rather it just stay away, though.

[juxtaposed]

17. Mackinac gets its marching orders from ALEC

http://alecwatch.org/

[Hugin]

18. K&R

:kick:

[Ramsey]

19. The Koch Brothers and the others should be out there 24/7. Let the people know who

is funding the death of America.

[Confusious]

20. granting emergency managers the power to override elected officials

Fascism pure and simple

[gtar100]

21. When Sam Walton was near his death, he wondered if what he created was a good thing.

No, Sam. It wasn't. You fucked up a whole lot of people, including your own family.

[dotymed]

25. One of the "Headlines" on MSN

yesterday and this morning (on computer) was the report that "G.E. PAID NO CORPORATE INCOME TAXES AGAIN THIS YEAR". The short article explained that hardly any corporations pay and actually receive millions in returns, every year, because "they use aggressive tax accountants recruited from the Treasury Dept. and I.R.S." . The tax dept.'s in these corporations are considered big money generators rather than liabilities. They find and use "loopholes" to accomplish this, year after year....it seems the "Justice Department" or I.R.S. would find a way to close the loopholes.....ha
Further it stated that our Federal Revenue used to be comprised of about 33% corporate taxes. Now it is closer to 6%.....
We have a WALL STREET GOVERNMENT and we are not doing a thing about it, except suffering.....
Blatant does not even describe the corporate mind-set....and our acceptance.

[southshore]

26. USSR?

I am beginning to wonder. When folks who lived in the Soviet Union, did they roll out of bed and say "God save me from another day of Soviet oppression", or did they just go on about their lives and deal with things. Everyone keeps telling me that this is the greatest country in the world, but I've lived other places and I'm pretty sure this isn't all that great.

[briteleaf]

28. Class warfare

When the Left brings up the abysmal gap of income inequality between the wealthy and working people, the Right calls it "Socialist Class Warfare". The true Class Warfare has been perpetrated by the wealthy themselves. No matter what pablum the wealthy have the media, that they own, spoon feed to simple Americans, it's all about making sure that the richest 1% get 80% of American income. 3/4 of their corporations pay NO TAXES and at the same time receive billions of dollars in subsidies from our taxes. Meanwhile the working poor pay about 1/3 of all their income in taxes. The wealthy and their corporate interests hire thousands and thousands of lobbyists to control our Congress by dangling campaign contributions in front of career politicians. Career politicians who often prioritize their own re-election over all other issues give the wealthy what they want. Guess what America? You've become a plutocracy.

The Right calls out for smaller government, less governmental restrictions and tax cuts. These sound great especially if you've never looked deeper into the ramifications. Of course the wealthy don't want restrictions. That's why they are pushing to eliminate worker's right to organize. If they can lower the wages and eliminate benefits of workers, they raise their profit. That's what the class warfare is all about. If the wealthy restrict government from interfering, corporations can rape the land, pollute the water and air and sell products that are health hazards. That's what SMALLER GOVERNMENT is really all about. Less restriction on profiteering. Without worker's unions, workers in America wouldn't have WEEKENDS, The 40 HOUR WORKWEEK, HEALTH BENEFITS, OVERTIME PAY or PENSIONS. Boy, that saves the wealthy a lot of money and maximizes profit if they can just eliminate unions.

The wealthy's media has convinced many Americans that our government should look for places to cut spending for schools, social programs that help the poorest and most helpless of Americans, Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. Does it make any logical sense to continue to balance our budget by cutting benefit programs instead of legislating tax increases for the wealthy and their tax-free corporations? When Warren Buffet points out that his secretary pays many times more taxes on a percentage basis than he does, shouldn't even the mentally impaired be able to figure out that things are extremely unbalanced in the favor the the wealthy? The only 2 ways to balance a budget are to cut expenditures or increase income. The rich have been waging class warfare for a long time and guess what? IT'S WORKING and THEY ARE WINNING.

[bobthedrummer]

29. ^

[jimmil]

30. This leaves me speechless..

I know you all being progressives can read and understand what laws like this mean, however, it made me stoopid. All I did for about five minutes was stare at my screen with my my mouth agape and shaking my head side to side. Has the GOP just finally decided to open the curtain and admit they what all the power and none of the responsibility that goes with it?

[Anakin Skywalker]

34. Boycott these motherfuckers!