To PSN and WSN (and apologies in advance for those of you on both lists
for getting this twice...)
I am working with some students who are doing research into the economic
alliances and political connections among some of the "New Money" forces.
(As distinct from the "Old Money" Rockefeller/Morgan/Chase
Manhattan/Standard Oil/Ford Motor, etc. who established their fortunes in
the early-middle part of the 20th Century)
Some of these Newer groupings include, for example, Koch Industries. Koch
seems to be the leader of these forces and apparently replaced the Hunt
family after they got swatted down during the silver caper of the 70s.
The Hunts are still around also. How strong are they, and who are they
connected to? Other important issues include the economic base of forces
like Buchanan, Trent Lott, etc. Is there a battle for control of the
Republican Party that has deeper roots than just the public "culture
wars" between the Religious Right and cultural mainstreamers?
There have always been differences within the capitalist class, different
banking circles, different industrial groups, different political
expressions of those different economic interests. Are the differences
sharpening over such things as GATT/NAFTA, MidEast Oil versus Domestic Oil,
pro-war versus isolationist (where the pro-war group might actually be the
Old Money "liberals"?) Might there be some factions within the CIA
versus the FBI? Does the media consolidation (Time-Warner/ /Murdoch/Ted
Turner) in both broadcasting and book publishing tie into this? Is there a
breakdown based on interests in different parts of Asia and/or the MidEast
and/or Latin America? All the criticisms about China can't simply be
about Human Rights, since the situation there has actually softened a bit
even as the criticisms have become louder.
I know that Bill Domhoff (as usual) has done some valuable work in this
area. If anyone out there has some info, especially on financial
interconnections between Koch and various banks and some of the important
political figures that would be a start. But any info you have,
especially if you have some hard data that goes beyond speculation about
these questions would be helpful.
Thanks,
Alan Spector