‘To the air and to the water of a lot of nasty chemicals.’ ibid.
‘Koch is using natural streams to transport waste.’ ibid.
‘Koch Industries is one of the primary sources of pollution in the United States.’ ibid.
‘The Koch brothers are killing me and my family.’ ibid.
‘The coloured man looms large in the communist plan to take over America.’ Citizen Koch, 2013, Fred Koch 1960 founder John Birch society
‘I call them patriots.’ ibid. Mitt Romney
‘I was shocked at the arrogance of the court; I was shocked at the fact that they thought corporations were people.’ ibid. Bob Edgar
Money also pours into state and local elections after 22 states lift their corporate spending bans. ibid.
David Koch and his brother Charles are worth $100 billion. They founded and bankroll the anti-government group Americans for Prosperity and other groups that advance their business interests. ibid.
The ability of the wealthy to buy their way out of military services caused rage among the poor. Plutocracy: Political Repression in the USA I: Divide and Rule, 2015
The robber barons took every opportunity to bribe politicians and crush their competitors. ibid.
Congress became known as the Millionaires Club. ibid.
Presiding over society was a small group of industrialists and bankers nicknamed the Robber Barons. Plutocracy II: Solidarity Forever, Mother Jones, 2016
The link between wealth and voting rights sometimes caused unrest. ibid.
How much inequality is enough? Alex Gibney, Park Avenue: Money, Power and the American Dream, 2012
This stretch of Park Avenue on the Upper East side of Manhattan is the wealthiest neighbourhood in New York City. This is where the people at the top of the ladder live. The upper crust. The ultra rich. But this street is about a lot more than money: it’s about political power. The rich here haven’t just used their money to buy fancy cars and private jets and mansions: they’ve also used it to rig the game in their favour. ibid.
As of 2010 only 400 of the richest Americans controlled more wealth than the bottom half of American households. ibid.
740 Park Avenue in Manhattan is currently home to more billionaires than any other building in the United States. ibid.
Nobody’s money talks louder than David Koch. This right-wing oil tycoon with a fortune of $25 billion is the richest resident of 740 Park Avenue. ibid.
In 2000 Koch Industries had to pay a $30 million fine for its role in over 300 oil spills. ibid.
What kind of freedom is American Prosperity talking about? ibid.
One in seven Americans receive food stamps. ibid.
The tax rates corporations actually pay is at an all-time low. ibid.
Oil billionaire and art collector J Paul Getty … The Getty Centre museum – it has a priceless collection of art, and it’s one of the wealthiest institutions of its kind in the world. Gettys: The World’s Richest Art Dynasty, BBC 2018
Three generations of Gettys have used art and wealth to change the art world and British culture for ever. ibid.
Mark is a passionate collector of contemporary art. ibid.
The offer from oil giant Texaco would ultimately be successful. The sale of Getty Oil for $10 billion would be the biggest corporate take-over in history. ibid.
Across two decades Paul Getty donated over £15 to the BFI. The film and television heritage of Britain received a new lease of life. ibid.
Are the wealthy just born in the right place at the right time? Or are the poor, victims of the system designed to keep them down? Perhaps physics and biology determine who is rich and who is poor? Many hoped to have erased the divide between the haves and the have nots, but what if Nature demands winners and losers in life? Could poverty be genetic? Morgan Freeman’s Through the Wormhole s5e9: Is Poverty Genetic? Science 2014
‘Two of Britain’s most flamboyant tycoons are arrested as part of an international fraud investigation into the collapse of an Icelandic bank.’ Robbie’s War: The Rise and Fall of a Playboy, BBC 2017
Right next to the Royal Albert Hall, Robbie’s [Tschenguiz] house is something of a grand palace. This Grade II listed building has been his home for the last seventeen years. This is how a billionaire lives. ibid.
For the last ten years Robbie’s empire has been in meltdown. Since his arrest and being cleared he’s been at war with those he believes have illegally taken it from him. ibid.
But his real problem was an Icelandic bank called Kaupthing. ibid.
According to Forbes, in 2011 there are now billionaires from 58 countries. Wolvoman80, Government and New World Order Corruption Exposed aka Planet Earth, Youtube 3.00.26
Dorchester on December 15th 1972: the richest man in the world J Paul Getty celebrated his eightieth birthday. For Getty it indeed would be a nightmare year: for the previous twelve years he had lived at Sutton Place, Surrey, England, from where he controlled his worldwide oil business. The first shock of his 81st year had been the suicide of his eldest son and heir apparent, George. And that was just the beginning. The Gettys: A Tragedy of Riches, 1995
Paul junior, known today’s as Britain most generous benefactor, was then lost to his children, living on a diet of rum and heroin. ibid.
‘There was a demand for a substantial multi-million-dollar ransom’ … Paul was being held in the remote southern province of Calabria … The kidnappers posted the ear to a leading Rome newspaper … Getty paid two million dollars. ibid.
Getty had changed his will no fewer than twenty-one times toward the end of his life. ibid.
July 10th 1973: He’s been kidnapped, Paul. Little Paul your grandson in Rome. All the Money in the World 2017 starring Michelle Williams & Christopher Plummer & Mark Wahlberg & Romain Duris & Timothy Hutton & Charlie Plummer & Charlie Shotwell & Andrew Buchan & Marco Leonardi & Nicolas Vaporidis, director Ridley Scott, Nancy
To be a Getty is an extraordinary thing. I know that because my grandpa told me so. You see my grandpa wasn’t just the richest man in the world, he was the richest man in the history of the world. ibid. Paul’s commentary
But if you can count your money, you’re not a billionaire. ibid. Getty senior
You are a Getty, Paul. You have a destiny. ibid.
Getting rich is easy. I mean any fool can get rich. And any number of fools do. But being rich – that’s something else. ibid.
There wasn’t a toy I couldn’t buy. There wasn’t a boat I couldn’t buy. There wasn’t a plane I couldn’t buy. There was nothing I couldn’t buy. I loved money. Come to me. Generation Wealth, rich bloke, 2018
No matter how much people had, they still wanted more. ibid. commentary
We thought the entire world revolved around us. ibid. rich bloke
They work hard and spend even harder. Britain’s flashiest families can’t resist splashing their cash. It’s a life where money is simply no object. Where one supercar is never enough, where mansions are multi-million-pound, and even pets get five-star treatment. Britain’s Flashiest Families, Channel 5 2018
‘I did buy five Porches in one month.’ ibid. Supercar Nigel
‘Oscar’s [dog’s] wardrobe is completely amazing.’ ibid. rich lady
Bum slimming, and a one hundred grand designer bed. ibid.
This is the Corinthia Hotel: a stone’s throw away from London’s Trafalgar Square overlooking the River Thames. Prime Real Estate and five-star luxury for the super-rich. The German general manager is Thomas Kochs previously of Claridges Hotel. With clients paying up to tens of thousands a night, it’s Thomas’s job to make their stay perfect. Hotel for the Super Rich & Famous I, BBC 2018
A staff of 500 from 54 nationalities … The busiest department is housekeeping. ibid.
We live in a world of over-abundance yet the gap between the rich and the poor continues to dramatically deepen. The 26 richest people on the planet now hold the same wealth as the 3.8 billion poorest. The Empire Files: Giants: Who Really Rules the World? Abby Martin online 2019
200 people control $50 trillion … A lot of those decisions aren’t favourable to most people … One of the problem with capital and capitalism is that it needs to continue to grow … They run out of places to invest … Literally privatise the world … everything is privatised, so the public domain is bought up … ibid. Professor Peter Phillips
Rich old Crow: People like Johnny have worked their guts out.
Stacey: But he was privileged from the start.
Rich old Crow glares angrily: What’s wrong with that? Stacey Dooley Sleeps Over s1e6: Landed Gentry, BBC 2019