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posted by n1 on Wednesday October 07 2015, @05:11PM   Printer-friendly
from the nice-lab,-be-a-shame-if-funding-got-cut dept.

The Christian Science Monitor carried a fine article (Apr this year, but current for a long time) on how the super-rich buy their way out from criticism. In brief: donations not only to politicians but to NGO-es as well. Which leads the CSM worry that we are letting the democracy succumb to money. Some excerpts:

Other sources of funding are drying up. Research grants are waning. Funds for social services of churches and community groups are growing scarce. Legislatures are cutting back university funding. Appropriations for public television, the arts, museums, and libraries are being slashed

[...] So the presidents of universities, congregations, and think tanks, other nonprofits are now kissing wealthy posteriors as never before.

But that money often comes with strings.

When Comcast, for example, finances a nonprofit like the International Center for Law and Economics, the Center supports Comcast's proposed merger with Time Warner.

When the Charles Koch Foundation pledges $1.5 million to Florida State University's economics department, it stipulates that a Koch-appointed advisory committee will select professors and undertake annual evaluations.

The Koch brothers now fund 350 programs at over 250 colleges and universities across America. You can bet that funding doesn't underwrite research on inequality and environmental justice.

[...] A few weeks ago dozens of climate scientists and environmental groups asked that museums of science and natural history "cut all ties" with fossil fuel companies and philanthropists like the Koch brothers.

"When some of the biggest contributors to climate change and funders of misinformation on climate science sponsor exhibitions ... they undermine public confidence in the validity of the institutions responsible for transmitting scientific knowledge," their statement said.

[...] Our democracy is directly threatened when the rich buy off politicians.

But no less dangerous is the quieter and more insidious buy-off of institutions democracy depends on to research, investigate, expose, and mobilize action against what is occurring.


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  • (Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 07 2015, @05:19PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 07 2015, @05:19PM (#246521)

    Which leads the CSM worry that we are letting the democracy succumb to money.

    Which the CSM worries that we have let, and continue to let democracy succumb to money.

    Or, better put:
    We live in an Oligarchy with a democratic facade.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 07 2015, @05:31PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 07 2015, @05:31PM (#246524)

      Welcome to our beautiful city of Potemkin [wikipedia.org]! You'll find you are happy here... You *WILL* be happy here!

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 07 2015, @05:59PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 07 2015, @05:59PM (#246531)

        Welcome to our beautiful city of Potemkin! You'll find you are happy here... You *WILL* be happy here!

        The beatings shall continue until morale improves!

      • (Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Thursday October 08 2015, @10:20AM

        by Phoenix666 (552) on Thursday October 08 2015, @10:20AM (#246796) Journal

        Being a citizen of Alpha Complex is fun. The Computer says so, and The Computer is your friend. The Computer wants you to be happy. If you are not happy, you may be used as reactor shielding.

        --
        Washington DC delenda est.
    • (Score: 5, Insightful) by bob_super on Wednesday October 07 2015, @06:23PM

      by bob_super (1357) on Wednesday October 07 2015, @06:23PM (#246540)

      > We live in an Oligarchy with a democratic facade.

      A bit more effort and we can get back to being officially feudal.

  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by Runaway1956 on Wednesday October 07 2015, @06:16PM

    by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday October 07 2015, @06:16PM (#246534) Journal

    The various articles I've read point out that the Cock brothers invested 14 billion dollars to destabilize the Ukrainian government. 14 billion reasons for someone not to criticize them.

    Various people, even some moderately intelligent people, make excuses for the US presence in Ukraine. Those same people flap their gums about how evil Russia is. But, 14 billion dollars, spent to destabilize the legitimate government, and open doors to the Cock brothers. But, don't worry to much - those Cocks will only stick their heads in.

    14 billion dollars buys one hell of a mercenary force. That's enough to not only buy tanks, guns, and soldiers, but the entire command structure, from the president on down. But the people who got those dollars aren't going to criticize the Brothers Cock.

  • (Score: 5, Informative) by dogvomit on Wednesday October 07 2015, @06:16PM

    by dogvomit (5452) on Wednesday October 07 2015, @06:16PM (#246535)

    I am a faculty member (and currently a department head) at a large mid-western university. Like our peers, we aim for billions of dollars in gift money, not millions. The vast majority of this comes with very few strings attached, and when there are strings they essentially always (in my experience) negotiated. There are many restrictions on just what strings can be attached.

    For example, if you want to endow a chair and specify who gets to hold the chair, you can do that but your gift is no longer tax deductible. If you want to fund a science professor to do pseudo-science, your gift will be declined. I have witnessed both of these things.

    Counter examples would be endowing scholarships that specifiy a minimum grade point average, or minority status, of extra curricular activity. Such stipulations are common in endowed scholarships, but in all cases college deans can decline the gift if they really feel it is not in the best interest of the university.

    I'm not familiar with what the Koches did at FSU, but I'd really expect that the administration there was pretty comfortable with it. It's just not enough money to accept if it's going to cause problems.

    Are we under financial stress to go out and seek donors? You bet your bootie we are! However, in the vast majority of cases this works well. Mostly, alumni give gifts because they honestly want to help the place.

    On thing not touched on by the fine article are donations to support sports. I've been worried about this since the natural assumption is that this hurts gifts for academics. However, at least here (and this is a huge football-centric university) analysis shows that on average donations to sports are accompanied by equal or greater donations to academics. It seems that most alumni are rational. They donate to the athletic program, and then they turn around and give as much or more to academics. This is actually an argument in favor of a winning football program, but that's another story.

    —G

    • (Score: 2) by jcross on Wednesday October 07 2015, @07:43PM

      by jcross (4009) on Wednesday October 07 2015, @07:43PM (#246567)

      Even if there are no strings explicitly attached, isn't it still possible for there to be implicit strings? For instance, if the grants are coming once a year, the grantor can let it be known that displeasing them will cause that tap to be turned off next year. I mean, in a lot of cases they probably don't even need to let it be known, because just the fact that I know where the money is coming from might make me toe that imaginary line out of sheer prudence.

      • (Score: 3, Informative) by dogvomit on Wednesday October 07 2015, @07:59PM

        by dogvomit (5452) on Wednesday October 07 2015, @07:59PM (#246572)

        Grants are a different animal from gifts. In most universities they are even handled by entirely separate entites or foundations.

        If a PI is wholely dependent on grants from a particular foundation, or even from a rich person, then they would have to worry about being influenced by that. I don't think this is common, and certainly there are no PIs in my department (72 faculty members, hard science) like that.

        I personally was once funded by a start-up company that was looking for a particular result. Unfortunately, the data showed the opposite, and that funding was not renewed. Oh, well. We academics work in an environment where we are constantly looking for new funding sources. Plenty of people's NSF grants don't get renewed, so it's nothing new. You just look elsewhere.

        —G

    • (Score: 3, Insightful) by Hawkwind on Wednesday October 07 2015, @08:17PM

      by Hawkwind (3531) on Wednesday October 07 2015, @08:17PM (#246580)

      I can echo parent's comments for a large western university system.

      I also don't know what's going on at FSU but that is a small amount of money. Seeing these types of negotiations before I wonder if Koch is spinning the agreement a certain way but in reality there's squirly language that protects FSU in the actual endowment document. Really Koch's only power should be the ability to threaten to not give FSU more money. And since $1.5M is not significant it makes much more sense.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 08 2015, @05:17PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 08 2015, @05:17PM (#246956)

      How can colleges be strapped for money when tuition costs have outpaced the rate of inflation for years? Find out who is sucking up all the money, fix it, and you may avoid whoring yourself out for money and compromising your ethics.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 07 2015, @06:18PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 07 2015, @06:18PM (#246537)

    When the Charles Koch Foundation pledges $1.5 million to Florida State University's economics department, it stipulates that a Koch-appointed advisory committee will select professors and undertake annual evaluations.

    Holy shit... allowed to select and evaluate professors for a measly $1.5 mil? That crosses the line by a few miles.

  • (Score: 5, Funny) by ghost on Wednesday October 07 2015, @06:23PM

    by ghost (4467) on Wednesday October 07 2015, @06:23PM (#246541) Journal

    Elementary school curricula are secretly developed and controlled by the Koch Brothers-- looking to recruit more to their cause.

    In biblical times, even common peasants knew much more than we do about how to treat sickle cell anemia. However, Big Pharma and the Koch Brothers are hiding those secrets from us today.

    Most people won't know about this until it's too late.

    Old classmates say that Pope Francis associated with the Koch Brothers during college. When's the last time anyone asked them about that on television?

    Since biblical times, the historical antecedents of the Koch Brothers have controlled how we think about the educational system.

    The former White House Chief of Staff confirmed two weeks ago that the truth about this matter has been seriously misrepresented.

    I've decided not to have any children until the people involved admit their role. I don't want to bring any more innocent life into this sad, twisted world.

    • (Score: 2) by captain normal on Wednesday October 07 2015, @06:46PM

      by captain normal (2205) on Wednesday October 07 2015, @06:46PM (#246548)

      ?? Whisky Tango Bravo??

      --
      When life isn't going right, go left.
      • (Score: 2) by meisterister on Thursday October 08 2015, @12:00AM

        by meisterister (949) on Thursday October 08 2015, @12:00AM (#246665) Journal

        ?? Whisky Tango Foxtrot??

        FTFY

        --
        (May or may not have been) Posted from my K6-2, Athlon XP, or Pentium I/II/III.
        • (Score: 2) by captain normal on Thursday October 08 2015, @02:57AM

          by captain normal (2205) on Thursday October 08 2015, @02:57AM (#246711)

          Muy gracias, mi amigo. Too much wine and too many years from using the phonetic alphabet.
          I did indeed mean "WTF"?

          --
          When life isn't going right, go left.
          • (Score: 2) by captain normal on Thursday October 08 2015, @03:06AM

            by captain normal (2205) on Thursday October 08 2015, @03:06AM (#246716)

            In my defense we more often used Whisky Tango Bravo translation as "Where's the Booze" or "Where's the Babes".

            --
            When life isn't going right, go left.
            • (Score: 2) by c0lo on Thursday October 08 2015, @04:05AM

              by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Thursday October 08 2015, @04:05AM (#246722) Journal
              Long gone those times. eh? Now WTF is more of the norm; how the time runs, puzzlin eh?
              Cheers, mate (can you grab a new one? th'is empty... 'ips... sorry).
              --
              https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
          • (Score: 2) by jelizondo on Thursday October 08 2015, @03:43AM

            by jelizondo (653) Subscriber Badge on Thursday October 08 2015, @03:43AM (#246720) Journal

            Well captain, "muy gracias" would translate into American (as Palin calls the language) as "very thanks", which means you had way too much wine already!

            You want to write (or say): "muchas gracias" [many thanks] or simply "gracias" [thank you]

            Now, if you plan to go on drinking, at least you should share so we can understand your American. ;-)

            Cheers!

            • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 08 2015, @04:06AM

              by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 08 2015, @04:06AM (#246723)
              Obrigado.
      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 08 2015, @10:21AM

        by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 08 2015, @10:21AM (#246797)

        "What The Buck"?

        Well, seems somewhat appropriate in this context.

  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by jdavidb on Wednesday October 07 2015, @06:41PM

    by jdavidb (5690) on Wednesday October 07 2015, @06:41PM (#246546) Homepage Journal

    Our democracy is directly threatened when the rich buy off politicians.

    Stop giving politicians the power to violate the rights to life, liberty, and property, and then there will be no incentives for rich people or poor people to want to buy them. People who win popularity contests shouldn't be allowed to do anything that anybody else is not allowed to do.

    Throw the Ring back into Mount Doom.

    --
    ⓋⒶ☮✝🕊 Secession is the right of all sentient beings
    • (Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 07 2015, @06:54PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 07 2015, @06:54PM (#246549)

      Perhaps you attended a Koch-funded school and thus your reading comprehension skills were not properly attended to.

      TFA is about Koch and Koch-lites buying influence at private organizations, even churches, that would criticize them.

      • (Score: 2) by jdavidb on Wednesday October 07 2015, @07:47PM

        by jdavidb (5690) on Wednesday October 07 2015, @07:47PM (#246569) Homepage Journal
        Private organizations have the right to sell the service of saying things that people want said. The idea of interfering with that is reprehensible to me.
        --
        ⓋⒶ☮✝🕊 Secession is the right of all sentient beings
        • (Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 07 2015, @08:08PM

          by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 07 2015, @08:08PM (#246575)

          Private organizations have the right to sell the service of saying things that people want said. The idea of interfering with that is reprehensible to me.

          So its OK for me to buy, say, a coordinated character assassination on you from multiple people? Or buy a coordinated effort to upsell a product or company in order to cash in my stocks at far above their value? Or buy, say, researchers to push that tabacco isn't harmless and climate change isn't real, or push "research" that being Muslim or black makes one sub-human? After all, private organizations have the right to sell the service of saying things that people want said, and interfering with that would be reprehensible.

          • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 07 2015, @08:12PM

            by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 07 2015, @08:12PM (#246578)

            I'm pretty sure javidb actually thinks most of those things aren't just OK to push, he thinks they are true.

            • (Score: 2) by jdavidb on Wednesday October 07 2015, @08:19PM

              by jdavidb (5690) on Wednesday October 07 2015, @08:19PM (#246582) Homepage Journal

              I'm pretty sure javidb actually thinks most of those things aren't just OK to push, he thinks they are true.

              No, the only one I think is true is the one about assassinating my character. I'm a lousy guy with terrible character. The rest of it I disagree with, but I oppose using force to try to stop people from saying those things.

              Tobacco is horrible and killed my grandmother and I personally live with serious respiratory ailments and can't stand the stuff. I think racism is abominable and I am extremely pro-minority and pro-immigration as well.

              --
              ⓋⒶ☮✝🕊 Secession is the right of all sentient beings
              • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 07 2015, @10:00PM

                by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 07 2015, @10:00PM (#246621)

                So you believe climate change is a real thing - something that is an externality to the marketplace - but you don't want government to do anything about it?

                • (Score: 2) by jdavidb on Wednesday October 07 2015, @10:43PM

                  by jdavidb (5690) on Wednesday October 07 2015, @10:43PM (#246641) Homepage Journal

                  So you believe climate change is a real thing - something that is an externality to the marketplace - but you don't want government to do anything about it?

                  Yes.

                  --
                  ⓋⒶ☮✝🕊 Secession is the right of all sentient beings
                  • (Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 07 2015, @11:01PM

                    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 07 2015, @11:01PM (#246645)

                    You should put that in your sig so everyone will know exactly where you are coming from.

                    Here: "I believe climate change exists, that it is a problem that markets can not solve, and I don't want the government to do anything about it."

                    • (Score: 2) by jdavidb on Wednesday October 07 2015, @11:02PM

                      by jdavidb (5690) on Wednesday October 07 2015, @11:02PM (#246646) Homepage Journal
                      My signature already nicely implies all of my political viewpoints in a single sentence.
                      --
                      ⓋⒶ☮✝🕊 Secession is the right of all sentient beings
                      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 07 2015, @11:13PM

                        by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 07 2015, @11:13PM (#246649)

                        > My signature already nicely implies all of my political viewpoints in a single sentence.

                        Your political viewpoint is that you expect people to be mind readers?
                        Well, I did kind of get that from many of your other posts.

                      • (Score: 1) by anubi on Thursday October 08 2015, @08:32AM

                        by anubi (2828) on Thursday October 08 2015, @08:32AM (#246769) Journal

                        Well said.

                        --
                        "Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]
          • (Score: 2) by jdavidb on Wednesday October 07 2015, @08:17PM

            by jdavidb (5690) on Wednesday October 07 2015, @08:17PM (#246581) Homepage Journal

            So its OK for me to buy, say, a coordinated character assassination on you from multiple people? Or buy a coordinated effort to upsell a product or company in order to cash in my stocks at far above their value? Or buy, say, researchers to push that tabacco isn't harmless and climate change isn't real, or push "research" that being Muslim or black makes one sub-human? After all, private organizations have the right to sell the service of saying things that people want said, and interfering with that would be reprehensible.

            Sure, yes, absolutely.

            --
            ⓋⒶ☮✝🕊 Secession is the right of all sentient beings
  • (Score: 4, Informative) by Beryllium Sphere (r) on Wednesday October 07 2015, @07:34PM

    by Beryllium Sphere (r) (5062) on Wednesday October 07 2015, @07:34PM (#246564)

    See the movie "Meltdown" (correction: "Inside Job") and fast forward to the interview with Glenn Hubbard where he's challenged on his outside income.

    For $1200 per hour, he told a court that Countrywide was honest: "He conducted an 'analysis' that essentially concluded that Countrywide's loans weren't any worse than the loans produced by other mortgage originators, and that therefore the monstrous losses that investors in those loans suffered were due to other factors related to the economic crisis – and not caused by the serial misrepresentations and fraud in Countrywide's underwriting."

    Even if he was sincere and correct, the risk of conflict of interest looms. That was a lot more money than just compensating for his time.

    Iceland is an example of the end stage of this phenomenon. Their mainstream news media was controlled by the billionaires and their academics co-opted. The result is that the public had no warning and thought everything was going great while the bankers destroyed the economy.

    • (Score: 3, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 07 2015, @08:22PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 07 2015, @08:22PM (#246583)

      > Even if he was sincere and correct, the risk of conflict of interest looms.

      He probably was sincere.

      The way the scam works is that they fund "useful idiots." People that, for whatever reason -- often simply irrational bias, sincerely believe something that happens to support the bullshit the funders want to sell. So there is rarely any outright lying or deception, there is just a valuing of confirmation over correctness.

      Same thing happens with politicians. They aren't usually bought and paid for, the campaign contributions make sure the only people they listen to are the ones on one side of the issue. We are all products of our experiences and if you don't have the experience to contradict that storoes of the people trying to sell you bullshit, the bullshit can sound like a pretty good idea.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 07 2015, @09:38PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 07 2015, @09:38PM (#246617)

        We are all products of our experiences and if you don't have the experience to contradict that storoes of the people trying to sell you bullshit, the bullshit can sound like a pretty good idea.

        Not to mention when your paycheck requires you to believe certain bullshit, you will publicly believe that bullshit with all of your heart.

    • (Score: 2, Touché) by dogvomit on Wednesday October 07 2015, @09:07PM

      by dogvomit (5452) on Wednesday October 07 2015, @09:07PM (#246603)

      Twelve large per hour. Wow.

      As a faculty member with 23 years or experience not getting such gigs, I am reminded of the Saturday Night Live skit where Garrett Morris [imdb.com] was feigning indignation over the Rolling Stones song “Some Girls” which features the lines:

      White girls they're pretty funny
      Sometimes they drive me mad
      Black girls just wanna get f***ed all night
      I just don't have that much jam

      After enough umbrage, Morris changed tone: “What I want to know, Mr. Jaggah, is... just where are all these black girls that just wants to get f.., uh, just wants to make love all night. Cause I ain't been able to find 'em. Come on, you gotta give me a phone number or somethin' man!”

      Yeah, $1200/hr., man...

      —G

      • (Score: 1) by nekomata on Thursday October 08 2015, @10:46AM

        by nekomata (5432) on Thursday October 08 2015, @10:46AM (#246804)

        This is atrocious. Who rhymes mad with jam.

        • (Score: 1) by dogvomit on Thursday October 08 2015, @04:15PM

          by dogvomit (5452) on Thursday October 08 2015, @04:15PM (#246920)

          You never listened to The Stones? Jagger's enunciation is so bad these actually rhyme for him.

          Here's [youtube.com] a suitably copyright-infringing copy if you wanna give it a listen.

          —G

  • (Score: 3, Interesting) by koick on Wednesday October 07 2015, @08:04PM

    by koick (5420) on Wednesday October 07 2015, @08:04PM (#246574)

    I just finished watching "Cowspiracy: The Sustainability Secret" on Netflix. It's a documentary on the huge environmental impacts that animal farming (especially cows) has on the planet. He demonstrates that there is clearly some of this backdoor financing by the ranching lobbyists going on (and for the same reason: silencing the opposition). For one, Greenpeace wouldn't comment on this issue. He talks to a beef lobbyist and they wouldn't comment on whether they give money to environmental NGOs, and also his funding for the film got cut half-way through due to the "controversy" of the subject.

    • (Score: 1) by koick on Wednesday October 07 2015, @11:13PM

      by koick (5420) on Wednesday October 07 2015, @11:13PM (#246650)

      (I originally had the subject titled "The Koch's aren't the only ones", but somehow got reverted to "koick" when submitting.)

  • (Score: 4, Insightful) by curunir_wolf on Wednesday October 07 2015, @09:44PM

    by curunir_wolf (4772) on Wednesday October 07 2015, @09:44PM (#246620)

    Apparently Koch does not have nearly enough money, because it's not working at all. I can't think of a forum or medium (Senate floor, TV News and talk shows, Twitter, Facebook, and Soylent News) where Koch is NOT criticized, vilified, and demonized on a regular basis.

    Epic fail, Koch. Try sending ME a little money and I'll not criticize you!

    --
    I am a crackpot
    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 07 2015, @10:11PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 07 2015, @10:11PM (#246630)

      It's like a tentacle monster. You can see a few of them but not all of them.

    • (Score: 2) by dyingtolive on Thursday October 08 2015, @12:49AM

      by dyingtolive (952) on Thursday October 08 2015, @12:49AM (#246678)

      But they don't need to worry about you. You're a crackpot!

      :-)

      --
      Don't blame me, I voted for moose wang!
  • (Score: 2) by unzombied on Thursday October 08 2015, @12:08AM

    by unzombied (4572) on Thursday October 08 2015, @12:08AM (#246666)

    Additional ways Koch money flows [propublica.org].

  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by jmorris on Thursday October 08 2015, @01:48AM

    by jmorris (4844) on Thursday October 08 2015, @01:48AM (#246699)

    This is stupid. I know the Kochs are basically used as the contemporary Goldstein, but come on; isn't it time to pick somebody else to make The Enemy for the daily two minute Hate?

    We aren't supposed to notice that there is a long list of rich industrialists, trust fund babies, Hollywierd celebs, etc. donating time and money to the other side. No, we are actually supposed to notice them, because they are held up as good people.

    Can somebody explain the moral difference between Tom Steyer, Bill Gates, Warren Buffet, Bono and the Koch Bros? Better, and more directly on target... between the Koch Bros, Al Gore and Bill & Hillary Clinton? They all believe they are using their wealth to make the world a better place. Maybe they are right, maybe not. But I damned sure don't want to live in a world where some Prog pinhead can tell them they are wrong and must stop.

    Anybody who didn't steal their money (and thus should be behind bars) is free to dispose of their wealth in whatever way make em happy.

    • (Score: 2) by c0lo on Thursday October 08 2015, @04:32AM

      by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Thursday October 08 2015, @04:32AM (#246730) Journal

      isn't it time to pick somebody else to make The Enemy for the daily two minute Hate?
      Can somebody explain the moral difference between Tom Steyer, Bill Gates, Warren Buffet, Bono and the Koch Bros? Better, and more directly on target... between the Koch Bros, Al Gore and Bill & Hillary Clinton?

      Anybody who didn't steal their money (and thus should be behind bars) is free to dispose of their wealth in whatever way make em happy.

      Is the article about buyers or about the sellers?
      Or maybe this one: is the "incarnation" of the trend important or is the actual trend that should worry us?

      --
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
      • (Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 08 2015, @10:01PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 08 2015, @10:01PM (#247094)

        My vote... is on the trend.

        Until I am bought, anyway!