Groups campaigning against Obamacare have one thing in common – they are all generously funded by Charles and David Koch. The Koch brothers, whose combined fortune exceeds $70 billion, according to Forbes, have been doing their utmost to thwart Obama’s “socialist-leaning reforms”.
Months ago, a bunch of foundations, research think-tanks and other noncommercial organizations had cooked up a budget crisis and made it work, journalist Philippe Bernard wrote in his latest article published in Le Monde.
The timing couldn’t have been better chosen: the coming into force of the medical insurance bill and the borrowing limit approval deadline coincided in time, a not-to miss chance for the Republicans.
The plan was simple: not to coordinate the budget or raise the debt ceiling unless Obamacare is repealed.
Days before Obama and Congress struck the last-minute budget deal on October 16, the Koch brothers, seeing that their plan had gone wrong, “jumped off the train” and wrote and open letter to Congress, distancing themselves from accusations of a shutdown blackmail conspiracy. They denied playing a part in the “legislative tactic of tying the continuing resolution to defunding ObamaCare” or lobbing on legislative provisions defunding it.
That looks like a tactical maneuver prompted partly by fear of a looming fiscal catastrophe and partly by the need to recuperate strength for a new Tea Party attack. A political force strong enough to shut down the world’s wealthiest government, Tea Party sprouted from the seeds planted by the Koch brothers in the 1980s. It has many supporters among wealthy Americans in southern states. The name Tea Party goes back to the famous 1773 Boston Tea Party tax protest is said to be an acronym for “taxed enough already.”Key Tea Party figures include senator for Texas Ted Cruz, senator for Utah Mike Lee, senator for Kentucky Rand Paul, member of the House of Representatives for Minnesota, and former Alaska governor Sara Palin.
The Koch brothers – billionaires and libertarians – advocate for the dissolution of the FBR and CIA, pension cuts and legalized prostitution and narcotics. Their father, a Dutch immigrant and chemical engineer, became a vehement anti-communist after working in the ex-Soviet Union in the 1930s.
The Kochs own some 6,000 km of oil pipes and businesses producing a vast range of goods from napkins to shield winds and employing a total of 60,000 workers. They sponsor prestigious cultural institutions and cancer societies.
They invested tens of millions of dollars into Republican candidate Mitt Romney during the 2012 presidential election campaign.
The “shutdown blitzkrieg” of the Koch brothers shows that despite Romney’s defeat they are not ready to capitulate.
Voice of Russia, Le Monde
