Charles G. Koch

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Charles G. Koch is an ultra-right-wing American billionaire who founded or funded several well known right-wing think tanks (Cato Institute, Mercatus Center, Interdisciplinary Center for Economic Science at George Mason University) and who regularly funds "libertarian" pet projects. His foundation funds many right-wing scholars and funds prizes for students advocating the views of the Koch foundations.

From the C.G. Koch Foundation biography:

Charles G. Koch is chairman of the board and CEO of Koch Industries, Inc., a position he has held since 1967. Under his leadership, Koch Industries has been transformed into a dynamic and diverse group of companies with about $90 billion in revenues, 80,000 employees, and a presence in nearly 60 countries. Today, Koch Industries is engaged in refining and chemicals, process equipment and technologies, fibers and polymers, commodity and financial trading, and forest and consumer products. Familiar Koch companies’ brands include STAINMASTER® carpet, LYCRA® spandex, Quilted Northern® tissue and Dixie® cups.
Much of Koch Industries' success can be traced to Mr. Koch's interest in and commitment to scientific and social progress, which led to the development and implementation of the Market Based Management® business philosophy. Mr. Koch is further developing the theories and expanding the practice of the MBM® philosophy, as well as other applications of the science of human action, not only throughout Koch Industries, but also with scholars, non-profit leaders, government officials and other business leaders.
He has continuously supported academic and public policy research (including numerous Nobel Prize winners) for more than 40 years, with a special focus on developing voluntary, market-based solutions to social problems. This interest led Mr. Koch to found or help build a number of organizations, including the Institute for Humane Studies, the Cato Institute, the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, the Bill of Rights Institute and the Market-Based Management Institute.[1]

Political Views

Charles Koch's political views are influenced by the work of Friedrich von Hayek, the author of The Road to Serfdom (1944), which argued that centralized government planning led, inexorably, to totalitarianism.[2]

Lobbying

Between 1986-1993 the Koch family gave $11 million to the Cato Institute.[3]

Hayek Society

The Hayek Societies in the US and UK are informal groups of like-minded right-wing libertarian economists or ideologues. At the London School of Economics, the Hayek Society attracts a steady stream of libertarian ideologues, neocons and environmental sceptics. Nearly every year Hayek Society members apply for grants at the Charles. G. Koch Foundation.

Affiliations

Contact

Website www.cgkfoundation.com

External resources

Notes

  1. C.G. Koch Foundation Biography
  2. Jane Meyer, Covert Operations, The New Yorker, 30-August-2010, Accessed 12-May-2011
  3. Koch Industries, Center for Public Integrity: Paper Trail Blog, Centre for Public Integrity, accessed 12.10.10