Chapter 110 Charles Koch

When Wang Xiuyuan, Lamotte Dupont Copeland, and Gluck Dupont entered the conference room, several old men looked at them with grins.

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"Haha, Copeland, when I saw Boss David in the conference room, I guessed you would definitely be the last one to arrive today.

Pay up, a hundred bucks!"

"It was to be expected, wasn't it! That stab back then was indeed too deep."

Some are happy while others are worried; where there is a winner, there is a loser.

"I say, Copeland, aren't you being too resentful? Have you still not let go of something from over ten years ago?"

"Exactly, how big a deal can it be? It's just business. Isn't it just you stabbing me today and me stabbing you tomorrow?

Just find the right opportunity to give him a stab back. You made us wait so long."

A group of high-and-mighty old men teased each other, leaving a group of young people standing to the side, looking at one another in bewilderment.

After all, that happened in 1963. Back then, Gluck and Renoson were still in elementary school; how could they know about such major events in the business world?

None of these old men were pushovers. While they seemed to be joking and teasing, every one of them was subtly fanning the flames, though they did it very discreetly.

Besides David Rockefeller and Lamotte Dupont Copeland, there were seven other old men. If each said a word to add a spark of anger, it could build up to quite a fire. Someone who didn't know better would really think Lamotte Dupont Copeland had such a terrible temper.

In reality, this was the result of the group's collective effort.

Truly high-level instigation is like this: seemingly harmless jokes that are actually lethal strikes, which outsiders can hardly even detect.

Even though these people hadn't discussed it beforehand, they displayed an astonishing level of tacit understanding.

Working with smart people is just that comfortable. Not even a hint of an eye gesture is needed; once someone starts, the others will naturally follow suit, and the matter gets done.

Naturally, none of the people sitting together joking were fools. David Rockefeller and Lamotte Dupont Copeland were both illustrious business titans; they certainly wouldn't be fooled into losing their heads by these little tricks, so neither of them spoke up.

At a time like this, anything said could easily be misinterpreted or used as a pretext, so silence was one of the most appropriate courses of action.

Wang Xiuyuan also noticed that things were going south, so he immediately spoke up to change the subject.

Although he knew these old men were formidable, even the most powerful people have tempers. Heaven knew whether their tempers were good or bad; he didn't want some old grudges to ruin his plans.

"Elders, thank you for waiting. Now that everyone is here, let's start the meeting.

Today's meeting is mainly divided into two parts. First is the report on the operating conditions and development status of the three prison management companies. This part will be handled by Renoson Rockefeller, Devik Morgan, and Locke Vanderbilt.

After the three of them finish their reports, there will be a dedicated Q&A session. If you seniors have any questions, you can ask them during that segment.

The second segment involves task allocation. We have marked the distribution of the 2,433 prisons across America.

At that time, we will allocate these prisons to the three prison management companies on a state-by-state basis. Aside from the Rockefeller, Morgan, and Vanderbilt families, the other six families will need to use their connections to help them secure the operational management rights for the prisons in those states.

The faster this is done, the better. As long as we act quickly enough, we can achieve a true industry monopoly that others cannot replicate."

Wang Xiuyuan's idea was good, but unfortunately, he was interrupted before he could even finish.

"Young man, although I think highly of you, I must interrupt you for a moment.

We just wanted to see what kind of results you young people have achieved. Whether or not we give you our full support depends on your operational results. After all, your business has only been running for two months.

Without seeing substantial results, it's impossible for us old men to use our connections to help you.

Connections need to be accumulated over a long period. Every time they are used, they are depleted. We cannot do a losing business deal."

The speaker was Charles Koch, the patriarch of the Koch Family. This Charles Koch was the youngest among the many family heads; he was only forty-five this year. The habitually taciturn Salmer Koch was precisely his son.

Judging by the current situation, the Koch Family's strength was somewhat weaker than that of the Morgan, Rockefeller, and DuPont families.

Although the Koch Family was also very impressive, it was nowhere near as exaggerated as it would be in the 21st century.

The Koch Family made its fortune from an oil refinery opened in 1940, but the first-generation patriarch, Fred Koch, had mediocre ability and did not manage the enterprise into something truly brilliant.

The Koch Family's true takeoff was the credit of two of Fred Koch's sons, Charles Koch and David Koch—the famous Koch Brothers.

Ever since Charles took over the power of Koch Industries in America, the family business has been like a carriage fitted with a rocket engine, hurtling forward at full speed.

The scale of the family's wealth could fully rival that of the Roosevelt Family, the Mars Family, and the Astor Family.

But what really made the Koch Family formidable were these two men, the Koch Brothers. Others just made money through stocks, investments, or running businesses.

But the Koch Brothers played with institutional design, political manipulation, and the total takeover of the narrative.

The Koch Family's main business was in the petrochemical field, which involves high levels of pollution and extremely high environmental compliance requirements.

So, in the early days of Koch Industries' development, they had a whole slew of lawsuits with America's environmental agencies, and their relationship became very poor.

However, after Charles Koch took office, he directly changed the path to solving the problem. He did the opposite, spending massive amounts of money to support various politicians, fund universities, and control the media!

He directly bypassed those environmental agencies, a classic move of pulling the rug out from under them.

Anyone with an understanding of the American political system knows that the American environmental departments are influenced by high-level politicians, and politicians in turn have to look at the faces of the voters who hold the ballots.

But the public is mostly ignorant. Who will they cast their votes for?

Without a doubt, for those politicians who appear upright in media reports and who claim they will speak for and seek benefits for the people.

Therefore, the Koch Brothers' strategy was simple and practical: package their own enterprise as a righteous representative of the environmental field, making the public feel they were among the good guys.

At the same time, they spent vast sums of money funding politicians, thereby influencing their decision-making.

After tasting the benefits, the Koch Brothers brought together a large group of billionaires to form a Republican donor club. These wealthy individuals contributed money together to fund capable politicians, and over the years, it has developed into a super donor for the Republican Party.

Not only that, but the Koch Brothers also donated to various universities and students, funding the lives of poor students and school teaching.

After graduation, these students became the Koch Brothers' secret lines. They were embedded in various American government departments and media companies, providing intelligence to the Koch Brothers or even directly causing trouble.

These are the famous 'Libertarian' figures of America.