ThinkProgress » Boehner Shares Stage With David Koch At Wall Street Club
House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) went to the heart of Wall Street last night to deliver a major speech on the deficit at the Economic Club of New York. The stage on which Boehner spoke featured a who’s who of financial moguls, including conservative billionaire David Koch, co-owner — along with his brother Charles –of the oil conglomerate Koch Industries, and a major funder of right-wing advocacy and tea party groups. This AP photo captured Boehner shaking hands with deficit advocate Pete Peterson, as Koch looked on:
Koch was also one of the few people with whom Boehner shook hands as he exited the stage after his speech
ThinkProgress » Boehner Shares Stage With David Koch At Wall Street Club
As ThinkProgress has reported, brothers Charles and David Koch and their corporate giant, Koch Industries, have played an extensive role in the corporate takeover of government, both at the state and federal level. This weekend, another of the Kochs’ projects surfaced in Texas, as the state’s Republican lawmakers rammed through a Koch-backed bill that would make it harder for consumers, workers, and small business owners to bring civil suits against corporations.
A growing number of GOP-led states are launching a concerted effort to severely impede and disenfranchise voters across the country. Last Thursday, the Florida legislature did its part by passing a 128-page “sweeping rewrite” of the state’s elections laws with “head-spinning speed” that now heads to Gov. Rick Scott (R) for signature. Passed along a party-line vote, the bill — HB 1355 — contains several provisions that drastically alter election laws to disadvantage and disenfranchise voters across the state …
In the wake of their successful assault on Osama Bin Laden’s hideout, ABC News did a short feature on the Navy Seals. The report tells us that the people who hold this highly demanding and dangerous get paid about $54,000 a year. It then adds that:
“The base salary level [of Navy Seals] is comparable to the average annual salary for teachers in the U.S., which was $55,350 for the 2009-2010 school year, according to the Digest of Education Statistics.’ That is one possible comparison. There are other possible reference points. For example, the CEOs of Goldman Sachs and J.P. Morgan both pocket around $20 million a year.