Charles Koch
BY ED FELIEN
No, not him. The other guy, Charles Koch.
Charlie Koch loves doing what he’s doing.
He did it to Carter in 1979. Remember the gas shortage, worrying about heating oil supplies for the winter? Then, Reagan promised a Morning in America. It was a clear manipulation of oil to create an economic crisis. It destroyed Carter.
Well, Charlie is back at it again. He and the Saudis have been business associates for more than 60 years. They both want to break Biden and bend the Democrats. The best and easiest way to do that is to cut off the supply of oil, thereby raising gasoline prices, thereby justifying corporate price hikes everywhere, thereby beginning an inflationary spiral.
Charlie Koch owns almost all the pipelines and refineries and most of the stocks betting on oil in the ground. He can control the price of oil by manipulating supply, and, in agreement with the Saudis, he is withholding supply in violation of the Sherman Antitrust Act. The Sherman Act outlaws “every contract, combination, or conspiracy in restraint of trade,” and any “monopolization, attempted monopolization, or conspiracy or combination to monopolize.”
I sent the following to Sen. Klobuchar:
Thu 10/27/2022 8:11 AM
Senator Klobuchar,
Why are there not hearings on whether Charles Koch and Koch refineries and Koch futures trading companies conspired with the Saudis to monopolize and fix prices in the oil market in violation of the Sherman Anti-
trust Act?
You are Chairwoman of the Subcommittee on Competition Policy, Antitrust, and Consumer Rights, which is tasked with oversight of antitrust enforcement at the Department of Justice and Federal Trade Commission and monitoring the state of competition in a variety of industries to help protect consumers.
It is obvious that Charles Koch (through his ownership of pipelines, refineries and futures stocks) controls almost all of the oil produced and transported in the U. S. It is obvious he went along with the Saudis in cutting down supply to raise prices.
Why isn’t this being investigated by your Subcommittee as a clear and deliberate cause of inflation?
Haven’t heard anything back from her yet.
On the other hand, on Oct. 31 President Biden called the oil companies war profiteers:
“It’s time for these companies to stop war profiteering, meet their responsibilities in this country and give the American people a break and still do very well.
“My team will work with Congress to look at these options that are available to us and others.”
Hey Joe, what about Charlie Koch and the Sherman Antitrust Act?
