Video
In this 24 Apr 2018 video, Jonathan Karl of ABC News interviews conservative billionaire Charles Koch.
Quotes
“We have this corporate welfare that benefits established companies and makes it very difficult for somebody to get started because this two-tiered society creates welfare for the wealthy and creates obstacles to opportunities for the disadvantaged. I mean, it’s cronyism. It’s corporate welfare.” (59s)
“Out of a 15 trillion dollar economy, probably this corporate welfare and cronyism is costing the economy 5 trillion dollars. … These regulations that bring about this two-tiered society create a more stagnant economy, they reduce competition, and they reduce innovation.” (2m28s)
“We now have two-year presidential campaigns, which is all everybody talks about. It’s because we have this system of control and dependencies where everybody is dependent including big companies on the government to set the rules to give them an advantage, and people throughout society are, so people invest in that to get an advantage.” (5m3s)
“If I controlled the Republican Party we would not have a two tiered system. We would not have welfare for the wealthy. We would not have a tax code that subsidizes the wealthy.” (8m19s)
“That’s why Bernie Sanders is popular… You probably saw the op-ed I wrote about I agree with Bernie Sanders on that. I don’t agree with his solutions… but he’s at least identified the problem. I don’t hear any of the Republican candidates talking about this two-tiered system and getting rid of it. So, that’s why we haven’t supported any of them.” (9m29s)
Further Reading
In his 18 Feb 2016 Washington Post op-ed, Charles Koch writes:
“[Bernie Sanders] is upset with a political and economic system that is often rigged to help the privileged few at the expense of everyone else, particularly the least advantaged. He believes that we have a two-tiered society that increasingly dooms millions of our fellow citizens to lives of poverty and hopelessness. He thinks many corporations seek and benefit from corporate welfare while ordinary citizens are denied opportunities and a level playing field. I agree with him.”
Featured Book
For further reading on democracy, read “Columns of Democracy” by Nicholas Johnson.