Tuesday 4 October 2011

Sarah Palin, the Koch Brothers and crony capitalism

Since her speech at the teabagging event in Indianola, "crony capitalism" has become Sarah Palin's favourite expression. She has mentioned it in just about every interview since then. She doesn't spare anybody. Republicans and Democrats are guilty of indulging in it.


The Koch Brothers bankroll the Tea Party movement through Americans for Prosperity and Freedom Works. Sarah Palin has received a fair amount of their money to speak against government regulation, among other topics.

Koch Industries has an abysmal record of breaking regulations and have paid millions of dollars in fines. People died or got sick due to their disregard for safety. The environment has suffered as well.

They don't like paying taxes and don't like paying enormous fines for breaking safety and environmental regulations. They would love to get rid of both. Enter Sarah Palin, advocating tax cuts and urging the government to leave the "job creators" alone.

Now I understand why she says a title would be too "shackling." Should she run for office, she would stand guilty of the crony capitalism she detests so much, but if she's paid just to make a lot of noise on behalf of her paymasters, she can invoke her 1st Amendment right to say whatever she wants... and remain free to take as much money as she can.