Republican Billionaires Arrange Secret Meeting to Plot Evil
The vast Right Wing Conspiracy will convene in January, according to a personal invitation that infamous billionaire Charles Koch recently sent to his rich friends. There they will plot to stop the Obama agenda, perhaps with Glenn Beck giving instructions.
The New York Times and Think Progress each obtained a memo sent in September from Koch Industries owner Charles Koch — who, along with brother David, has quietly spent hundreds of millions of dollars over the years building a right-wing network of businessmen, think tank scholars, and political operatives — inviting hedge fund managers and industry captains and whomever else to his biannual "retreat." If the Kochs don't want so many people believing conspiracy theories about how they secretly control the country from behind closed doors, then maybe they should write hyperbolic personal pleas like this to their network of friends, because they will get leaked. Click to enlarge:
You can read the full memo here. Koch included a brochure of events from their last meeting in July, in Aspen. Think Progress compiled a guide to the 200+ rather powerful attendees, who had the 2010 election much on their minds.
But this is the scariest revelation about the June conference, from the Times report:
The participants in Aspen dined under the stars at the top of the gondola run on Aspen Mountain, and listened to Glenn Beck of Fox News in a session titled, "Is America on the Road to Serfdom?" (The title refers to a classic of Austrian economic thought that informs libertarian ideology, popularized by Mr. Beck on his show.) The participants included some of the nation's wealthiest families and biggest names in finance: private equity and hedge fund executives like John Childs, Cliff Asness, Steve Schwarzman and Ken Griffin; Phil Anschutz, the entertainment and media mogul ranked by Forbes as the 34th-richest person in the country; Rich DeVos, the co-founder of Amway; Steve Bechtel of the giant construction firm; and Kenneth Langone of Home Depot.
Glenn Beck was their teacher, everyone. Talking to billionaires about serfdom. Good lord.