( - promoted by Rob Kailey)
The Matador Ranch Company, owned by Koch Industries (yes, THOSE Koch Brothers), sent a representative to the Montana Land Board meeting today to protest a proposed increase to the state grazing lease rate. This rate is what the state charges ranchers who lease state-owned land for cattle grazing. The money earned from these leases helps fund schools in Montana.
The average state grazing rate is currently about $6 or $8 per month for each animal, or Animal Unit Month (AUM). The new rate being proposed is around $12 per month. Everyone recognizes that this rate has been set too low for some time, especially with cattle prices way up. The reason for proposing a new rate is that the market demands it; the average grazing rate on similar private land is $20 and higher!
But the point is, it turns out that the Koch Brothers--the supposed "defenders against socialism"--are some of our most prominent socialists! In fact, they are the state of Montana's biggest lessee. Their 300,000 acre Matador Ranch operation contains over 80,000 acres of state land. The Koch Brothers have been enjoying their subsidized rate, and they want to keep it! They don't want to pay something closer to the market rate, despite claiming to be defenders of free markets. This is "corporate welfare" in its most hypocritical form.
It's widely known that state and federal grazing rates are a subsidy to ranchers. Federal grazing rates are worse. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management rates in Montana and other western states are set at only $1.35 per AUM! The Koch Brothers cash in on that giveaway too, because another large portion of their 300,000 acre ranch is federal land.
So it turns out that the Koch Brothers are not against socialism after all. They're just against socialism for anyone but themselves. And the schoolkids of Montana can go to hell! |
