You're listening to WALT.

Home made radio.

As I record these words, Coke Industries is the second largest privately held company in America,

with annual revenues over $100 billion.

If you glance at their Wikipedia page, you'll see that the list of products they make

is a collection of vague categories, like chemicals, minerals, and fibers.

It's a series of almost meaningless words that does almost nothing to illustrate how pervasive

this one family's influence is on our world.

The coax and their ilk have worked tirelessly to shape our laws in such a way that they end

up sacrificing the well-being of the masses in the name of preserving the interests of a

very rich few.

A far more concrete example can be found in the opening pages of the book Dark Money

by investigative journalist Jane Mayer.

She describes a scene at the inauguration of former President Barack Obama.

The President-elect is giving a rousing speech about his goals of rooting out the corruption

and influence peddling of rich families like the coax.

But unbeknownst to him, as he gives this speech, he's standing on a carpet purchased as part

of a government contract from a company called Envista, which is a subsidiary of Koch Industries.

The Koch Empire was launched in the late 1920s by a man named Fred Koch.

These days, when journalists like Jane Mayer invoke the phrase The Koch Brothers, they're

usually talking about two of Fred's sons, Charles and David.

Charles Koch is the current chairman and CEO of Koch Industries.

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