Capitalism, greed and the carbon barons: The story behind the climate change deniers and their ongoing enslavement of the world.
Capitalism, greed and the carbon barons: The story behind the climate change deniers and their ongoing enslavement of the world.
Money, power, and misinformation, are the tools that the special interests use to undermine the overwhelming scientific evidence of the causal relationship between the burning of carbon based fuel and global climate change. The effort to undermine the science behind climate change is being funded and directed by a few powerful people, the carbon barons. These carbon barons in an effort to protect their profits and preserve the status quo have devised a multifaceted scheme to preserve their domination of the world’s energy supply, insuring their continued economic and political domination of the world. How did this all begin?
A century ago one man, President Teddy Roosevelt stood up to the world’s first carbon baron J.D. Rockefeller. Rockefeller was at the time the world’s richest and most powerful man, history’s first billionaire, the original carbon baron. Rockefeller’s Standard Oil Company controlled 40 percent of the world’s oil supply before it was eventually broken up into several smaller firms by Roosevelt’s anti-trust legislation and litigation. Rockefeller’s empire was split into 30 companies including two we know well today Exxon and Mobile, which have been allowed to merge into one again. The Roosevelt anti-trust action was brought to preserve the free market, and save democracy. Roosevelt’s anti-trust crusade and legislation were successful challenges to Rockefeller’s political and economic power. Though his actions are hailed in history books and he was immensely popular yet somehow Roosevelt was forced out of the election of 1908 by his own party. In hindsight we can see the turning point in history was not the breakup of Standard Oil for anti-trust violations as the history book portray, it was Rockefeller’s alliance with media mogul and former Roosevelt ally William Randolph Hearst (Lewiston Evening Journal Staff ). Hearst’s media empire had national reach and at Rockefeller’s request he launched an unprecedented series of attacks on Teddy Roosevelt (Lewiston Evening Journal Staff ). The marriage of the carbon baron’s cash and a willing media brought down one of our greatest presidents in a matter of months. The headline from the April 4th, 1907 Lewiston Evening Journal says it all, “Corporations desire an executive they can handle, not one of the Roosevelt school- Mr. Taft in the race.” The Roosevelt era of trust busting has long since passed and Rockefeller’s old company after years of deregulation has been put back together again. Today new carbon barons have emerged to threaten not only the free market and our democracy but life on the planet as we know it, all in the name of increased profits, and there is no Teddy Roosevelt in sight.
Just as Rockefeller had Hearst to shape the news and formulate public opinion a century ago, today’s carbon barons have media moguls of their own and are taking the tried and true strategy to all new heights. Michael Bloomberg and Rupert Murdoch the modern day Hearst are all too happy to carry the carbon barons message to the masses, just as Hearst a century before. By sowing the seeds of doubt among the public the media wing of the carbon barons empire is shaping the climate change “debate”. In fact the media blitz to counter act the science is so effective that less people in 2009 thought global warming was real than at any time in the 21 year history of the Gallup survey (Gallup). How is this accomplished in today’s mass media environment? While newspapers were the only media in Rockefeller’s era today we have talk radio, television, the internet and newspapers. Yet just as in Hearst’s and Rockefeller’s day the control of this multitude of media platforms and outlets is concentrated in the hands of a few large corporations. In reality only ten media conglomerates dominate the global media market (Meier), and the sources cited by the global warming deniers are even less diverse and objective.
The methodology the carbon barons employ is three pronged, the first is through direct campaign financing of carbon friendly candidates. The second prong or front if you will consists of the authoring and funding of quasi science which disputes the empirical evidence of carbon caused climate change, while funding of conservative think tanks to disseminate the “scientific reports” to a gullible public. The third prong is the complicit press, a press bought and paid for by the carbon barons, a complex web of board memberships and cross ownership ties it together in a neat little bow, a carbon bow.
Follow the Money: The tie that binds, Cash is the currency of climate change deniers and when given in the form of political contributions it has a powerful effect on a politicians stated position. Unlike in the early 20th century today reporters and the general public can access the financial records and see the contributions of the carbon barons and track their cash as it flows through the political system. These financial disclosures tie the groups who publish the climate change denying reports, the media groups who recite it and the politicians who present it as fact to their constituents together with an indisputable knot, a knot comprised of cash.
In an age where campaign contributions are reported and can be tracked electronically, the carbon baron’s employ a coordinated strategy to preserve the appearance of propriety and the facade of democracy. How much does it cost to have a Senator ignore the science and become a climate change denier? Well that amount varies based on the Senator for example, Texas Senator Kay Bailey Hutchinson has long been a supporter of Science according to her hometown news paper the Houston Chronicle yet suddenly in 2007 she issued a report titled Global Warming the Settled versus unsettled science (Berger). Eric Berger the Science writer for the Houston Chronicle was shocked by the Senators flip flop but a closer look at the money trail reveals the real story behind her sudden doubts. In 2008 after the report was issued Kay B. Hutchinson received $807,256 from the Oil and Gas Industry and an additional $285,000 from natural gas pipeline companies (Open Secrets ). In 2008, Kay B. Hutchinson was not facing re-election, so why did she receive the sudden influx of donations, was it the report?
Prior his run for the presidency in 2008, Senator John McCain repeatedly stated his concerns regarding climate change. After receiving $3,000,000 from the oil and gas lobby in 2008, Senator McCain’s position changed. The change is demonstrated by his actions and not his words. Within a year of receiving over $3,000,000 from the oil and gas lobby, McCain spent his summer campaigning and fund raising for climate change denying candidates including California gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman (Federal Election Commission). Since 1990 the oil and gas lobby have contributed over $190,000,000 to Republican candidates for the house and senate directly. This figure does not include 529 spending, funding for governors races, presidential campaigns or contributions to Political Action Committees and think tanks. It is important to note that this figure does not include any contributions from oil and gas pipeline companies which are deemed separate for reporting purposes or coal companies, which amount to an additional $75,000,000 to house and senate republicans. Is there some correlation between the republican national committee’s position on climate change and these massive donations? Of course not that would be illegal. Obviously these donations are a result of the positions these carbon friendly candidates take due to the underwhelming quasi-scientific evidence that carbon is not bad for the environment.
In his January 4th, 2005 speech, Senator James Inhofe, then the Chairman of the Senate Committee on the Environment and Public Works illustrates his command of the subject of climate change.
”Much of the debate over global warming is predicated on fear, rather than science. I called the threat of catastrophic global warming the greatest hoax ever perpetrated on the American people, a statement that, to put it mildly, was not viewed kindly by environmental extremists and their elitist organizations. I also pointed out, in a lengthy committee report, that those same environmental extremists exploit the issue for fundraising purposes, raking in millions of dollars, even using federal taxpayer dollars to finance their campaigns, said Senator James Inhofe (R) of Oklahoma (Inhofe).**
**Simple fact checking reveals that during the 2004 election cycle the Environmental Lobby donated at total of $671,677 to all candidates combined (Open Secrets ) versus the more than $87,000,000 from the carbon barons to house and senate republicans alone. In 2004 Senator Inhofe raised $4,273,456 from individuals and corporations who are directly tied to the carbon industry. It makes perfect sense for a lobby to spend 8.21% of its total lobbying budget for the entire 2004 election cycle on one Senators vote only if that one Senator happens to Chair the Senate Committee on the Environment, from where he can control the legislative agenda. During the 2008 election cycle with Senator Inhofe no longer the Chair but in the minority and serving as ranking member, his donations from the carbon lobby fell by 90% to $444,900 (Open Secrets ). Today’s climate change deniers and their media wing would have America believe that these facts are merely coincidence. Now let’s examine the second prong of the three pronged carbon baron strategy to control the news and public opinion, the quasi-science.
The carbon baron’s first prong of identifying carbon friendly politicians would be transparent unless it was accompanied by a misinformation campaign. To accomplish their goal the carbon barons devised a two step system to first fund quasi-science that calls climate change into question, and then propagate its message.
The first phase funds the “science” while the second phase serves to reinforce the underlying pre-determined “scientific” message. Namely that global warming is not a threat, not caused by man, and not related in any way to the burning of fossil fuels. This message is amplified by conservative “think tanks” that generate climate change denying op-ed articles which quote the quasi-science reports as gospel and reason to doubt climate change is carbon related. This integrated strategy is designed to give the media wing “credible” source materials for their anti-climate change news reports while simultaneously providing the elected officials in their pockets something to hide behind other than the piles of the carbon baron’s cash.
From the CATO Institute to the Americans for Prosperity the conservative think tanks have editorials flying off the presses reinforcing carbon industry funded science. For each quasi-science report written literally dozens of editorial writers are pre-positioned to amplify the message. Some classic examples are the “Scientific Misconduct: The Manipulation of Evidence for Political Advocacy in Health Care and Climate Policy” by George Avery of the CATO Institute, and of course the ever quoted “What to Do about Climate Change” by Indur Goklany also of the CATO Institute. The first seeks to undermine hard science by pointing to the so called climate gate email scandal and was written by a medical doctor not a climatologist or even meteorologist. While Indur Goklany a statistician and insurance actuary, claims that the loss of 4 to 10% of land mass due to “alleged” rising oceans is not a serious threat to humanity because that land has little value. Of course the merits of these reports would be arguable as neither has been peer reviewed as neither author’s peers write on these subjects, but it’s who they work for that really undermines their papers. The Cato Institute is hardly N.O.A.A. or the Academy of Sciences.
The CATO Institute was founded by the Koch brothers, as was the climate change denying group American’s for Prosperity. Who are the Koch brothers? Charles and David Koch are the new American carbon barons each is worth an estimated $17 billion and together they own the largest privately held oil company in the world with annual revenues in excess of $100 billion dollars. In 2008 the Koch brothers alone donated $20,000,000 to anti-climate change candidates for the U.S. House and Senate. The Koch family has a long and checked history in American political life, their father founded the racist arch conservative John Birch Society. Today the Koch’s along with Exxon Mobile are the largest funders of the climate change deniers (Bogardus).
”Although it is both a top campaign contributor and spends millions on direct lobbying, Koch’s chief political influence tool is a web of interconnected, right-wing think tanks and advocacy groups funded by foundations controlled and supported by the two Koch brothers.”-Center for Public Integrity (Bogardus).
Americans for Prosperity was established in 2004 by David Koch, who is Chairman of the Board of Directors of the AFP Foundation. For each of the three years, from 2005 through 2007, the Koch family foundations contributed more than $1 million to AFP. In 2008, the funding level doubled to $2 million (27% of AFP’s budget), bringing the total 2005-2008 contribution to $5.2 million. Information on Koch family contributions to the AFP 2009 budget is not yet available. In addition, several top level AFP staff are former Koch Industries or Koch Foundation employees; and the Koch brothers fund the placement of summer fellows and associates at AFP (DeMelle).
Unsatisfied by the scientific communities acceptance of the CATO and AFP “scientific works” the Koch brothers have established a new group The Heartland Institute, this institute is specifically charged with producing quasi-science to cloud the public’s perception of the “debate” on climate change. The group even holds an annual International Conference on Climate Change to give the “science” it produces more credibility; the keynote speaker at last year’s conference was none other than our old friend Senator James Inhofe.
Beyond the “science” and think tank reports to gain traction with the general public the carbon barons needed a third prong, a way to fully integrate their comprehensive strategy. The answer was a vertical distribution platform that could reach the masses and a credible financial media group who would reinforce the economic policy of imported oil. Into the breach stepped the modern day version of William Randolph Hearst, Rupert Murdoch, and the Mayor of New York, billionaire financial information broker Michael Bloomberg. Murdoch long recognized as the modern day Hearst is the King of Tabloid journalism. The Koch’s and Bloomberg just happen to serve as board members on each other’s foundations and charities, along with Jeb Bush and a select few conservative political types. Murdoch and several of his NEWS CORP executives sit on the boards of multiple energy companies, and it just so happens that two former Exxon Mobile Chairmen are on the board of Murdoch’s company and foundation. Perhaps this is why Fox News Network is the leading purveyor of faux science and climate change denying punditry; Fox derives more advertising revenue from big oil and coal companies than all other networks combined (Media Matters). Obviously this is a coincidence as no news organization that describes itself as “Fair and balanced” would intentionally mislead the public on such a critical issue.
As for Bloomberg his role is to provide credible “unbiased” economic perspective on the benefits of big oil and coal. Recently a Bloomberg columnist ran a series of articles denigrating the concept of energy independence from an economic perspective, citing the low costs of imported oil and the downside of not importing middle-eastern oil (Bassett). As the importation of oil accounts for two-thirds of our trade deficit and drains $1,000,000,000 a day from the United States, while creating no jobs how is this argument even plausible? It’s not according to Noble Prize winning economist Paul Krugman who cites big oil as a threat to our economy and the planet as a whole. Dr. Krugman cites the scare tactics and greed of the carbon barons as the only rational to continue doing business as usual in his 2009 New York Times op-ed entitled Betraying the planet (Krugman).
No recent administration was as friendly to the carbon barons and hostile to the environment as George W. Bush’s. George W. Bush’s Director of White House Counsel for Environmental Quality was former Koch Industry attorney Elizabeth Stolpe. Prior to being appointed by Bush, Stolpe was under investigation for directing Koch employee’s to dump toxins into the ground water in seven states, while she ran Koch’s environmental policy division, the charges were dropped suddenly when she accepted the policy job within the Bush Administration.
What’s really at stake for the world and those who profit from the coordinated effort to hide the truth? Why all the subterfuge and misinformation to protect a system which is killing the planet? Why do we fuel international terrorism by transferring $1,000,000,000 a day to countries run by dictators who hate us? Why do we as a nation place our national security at risk by subjecting our economy to the whims of a powerful few carbon barons and kings?
The answer is simple, it’s greed. Every day the few who benefit from what is the greatest transfer of wealth in the history of the world, insure that you know nothing about what is happening. According to production reports I have read the King of Saudi Arabia makes $240,000,000 per day as long as oil is above $70 a barrel. You will not find the King on the Forbes list of the World’s Richest People, he doesn’t want you to know that he makes $167,000 per minute, 24hours a day 7 days a week and more every year, all to destroy the planet. All that money while being guarded and secured by American military might. An absolute dictator, his regime routinely decapitates its citizens for minor offenses. His middlemen like the Koch brothers and Exxon-Mobile Corp, are perhaps easier for us to understand. Last year Charles and David Koch brought in $2.1 billion each, for bringing you, the American consumer the oil and gas that you need. The average American family of four lives on $42,000 a year, it would take 50,000 years for the average American family to make what David made last year alone. Fifty-thousand years is nothing, to earn what the King of Saudi Arabia made it would take 2,085,610 years. In other words the King of Saudi Arabia made more than money last year than the entire population of New York City, all eight and one half million of them combined. Can you imagine winning a $240,000,000 Powerball jack pot every single day of your life? What would you do if you did win even once? The King is destroying the world one barrel of oil at a time. With his profits he educates over 300,000,000 students in fundamentalist Muslim schools, (CIA) in fact he has built every Islamic maddrassa in Pakistan and Africa. These are the same schools that turn out terrorists, not one at a time but by the hundreds. The fact is we the American people serve the King of Saudi Arabia. He has loaned us over $1 trillion dollars as he and his investment companies own over $1 trillion of U.S. Treasuries, and this is in addition to the estimated $1,700,000,000,000 in publicly traded securities he controls. His power is limitless his reach global his politics not democratic and his schools create Taliban fighters and al-Qaeda members on a daily basis, he is our friend and ally. He must be because over the course of the past 25 years we the American people have spent over $2,000,000,000,000 defending him from his neighbors and enemies (Pentagon Quadrennial Defense Review). I guess now you know why President Bush was holding his hand.
Did you see the Daily show Health Care Segment? If not watch it on my site.
Covering the news in a satirical manner is what the Daily Show does best. Check the video on the right, in 7 minutes its sums up the Health Care reform debate so well, watch it for yourself. (video is licensed by my site not pirated with a link)
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