Economic freedom and market-based policies create the most opportunity and prosperity for everyone, including the poor and the environment, says Richard Fink, and that’s why Charles and David Koch of Wichita-based Koch Industries, Inc. support these principles and public policy organizations that work to advance them.
In the following article, Mark Tapscott of The Washington Examiner interviews Richard Fink, president of the Charles G. Koch Charitable Foundation and an executive vice president of Koch Industries, Inc.
In the article, Tapscott explains that economic freedom and free markets are not the same as big business. Fink explains the role of the Kochs in supporting institutions that promote economic freedom and free markets. He says that the tea party is a positive development of citizens concerned about government growth and spending, and that accusations that it is an “astroturf” movement controlled by corporate sponsorship is nonsense.
What if all businessmen were as dedicated to free markets as the Kochs?
By Mark Tapscott
Among the biggest obstacles to restoring American freedom and prosperity is the fact too many corporate executives are all too happy to play footsie with government bureaucrats, usually in an attempt to gain a competitive advantage over competitors.
Consumers — and taxpayers — are always the biggest losers when Big Government and Big Business get in bed together.
One result is that instead of having to put consumers first, the corporations put the bureaucrats first. Prices go up, the quality of service goes down, and not infrequently corruption eventually results (See Enron and cap-and-trade, for example).
But there are honest leaders in the corporate world who go a different way. Charles and David Koch of the Wichita-based Koch Industries are among the preeminent examples of such men and women.
They’ve built one of the world’s largest private corporations based on the principles of free markets and competition.
For more than 40 years, the Kochs have also been aggressive supporters of those principles in the public policy arena, a fact that always flusters critics of economic freedom.