and drum roll, please, the richest man in all of new york, david koch of the famous koch brothers. we've known for some time the koch brothers are big fans of christie. he was a guest of the koch brothers at a summit outside of vail, colorado. they set up loud speakers on the periphery of the event to broadcast white noise, to broadcast static so nobody could listen in on the event. here's some of what they're apparently hoping to keep quiet. this is reportedly david koch praising governor chris christie. >> five months ago we met in my new york city office and spoke -- just the two of us -- for about two hours. at the end of our conversation, i said to myself, i'm really impressed and inspired by this man. he is my kind of guy. who knows? with his anonymous success in reforming new jersey, some day we might see him on a larger stage where god knows he is desperately needed. >> zillionaires like david koch who at one time were hoping to keep their chris christie light under a bushel are now apparently according to the press this week willing to be named as chris christie supporters

the right, including the conservative groups bankrolled by charles and david koch trying to make the case that the richest people in the country and corporations are the key to the economy. that although they admittedly are doing really awesome right now, if they could just do a little more awesome, if we could just figure out some way to cut their taxes and let them make more profit that will result in there being more jobs for other people and everything being better for everybody. corporate tax cuts and tax cuts for very, very rich people like the koch brothers will, in the words of americans for prosperity, "lift people out of poverty." or at least it will help them build the pile of $50 billion they are already sitting on int an already bigger pile while their company keeps laying people off. on the other side are the democrats and the almost united front they are finally getting around to showing for the president's jobs agenda, which does include this very populist message. >> would you rather that the oil companies get to keep their tax loopholes? or would you rather make sur

the koch brothers twenty five billion dollars head of koch industries number five the other koch david koch twenty five billion dollars executive pete of koch industries now the interesting thing is that number seven we have to go to because he's a big name george soros twenty two billion dollars net worth up from fourteen. last year so he made quite a lot of money on what he did but the interesting thing is that all of those guys except for warren buffett who is network is a little lower than last year their net worth is all higher this year and it's not just the richest of the rich executive c.e.o. pay in two thousand and ten for example increase the median went up twenty seven percent according to a usa today analysis and then there's this floor of the five richest counties in the country according to the census data that just came out are in the d.c. area right around the nation's capital four out of the five meanwhile statistics have gotten worse across the board for middle class americans so for more earlier i spoke with the new trick of beingness economics blogger and r t contributor

coke as in the koch brothers head of coke industries that twenty five billion dollars after that david koch his brother twenty five billion executive v.p. of coke industries an interesting thing all of those people and number seven who want to highlight because he's a big name george soros twenty two billion net worth all of these people saw their wealth increase by billions of dollars with us. exception of warren buffett so he might be the outlier still here in pretty well but they're still making a ton of money to help explain why. blogger an r t contributor is here thanks for being here dimitri ok so far four hundred less came out billionaires are still making tons of money the rest of the economy average folks not doing so well so how is this possible i mean if there are some people who are going to make a lot of money like steve jobs and a lot of money he provides a lot of products so i think there's a difference between someone like steve jobs making a lot of money or bill gates and someone like george soros who makes money from barga volatility so so you're saying that there's no tre

the koch brothers that's charles koch and then his brother david koch now the interesting thing is that oh and there's george soros number seven the interesting thing is all of these guys have seen their net worth except for warren buffett you lost a few billion all rest of them have seen their net worth increase kind of a quite a bit by billions of dollars compared to last year how is this happening earlier i spoke to carolyn hellbent professor of politics at occidental college and i also asked her because it's not just these richest guys it's just executive pay but when you look at a usa today analysis for example executive pay in two thousand and ten the median pay was twenty seven percent higher than the prior year so with that and these rich richest people in the world i asked how it's possible for them to be raking in all this dough which is that. well this is happening because we have a jobless recovery where corporations are making historic profits in most industries so of course the people who had up corporations are going to be making a bigger salary as well as major investors

over this last night the event was hosted by right wing activists billionaire brothers charles and david koch and today mother jones magazine obtained audio from this top secret strategy session. does this audiotape alice i mean does this prove that they're just in it to win it at all costs. now now you really want to gloat but tonight i'm going to go for it i'm going to go ahead and say told you so i can't tell whether it's amusing or their it's sad that the mainstream media is just so predictable but you know whatever let's move on today where predictability it once again shines through and tonight there's going to be another republican presidential candidate debate even though the debate hasn't happened yet even though there are plenty of other things to fill the news cycle with we're already just hearing nonstop debate coverage and everybody's talking about it we're going to specifically pick on m.s.n. b.c. for just another minute here since the debates airing on their network and so they are just pimping this thing out like a little teenage girl with a lollipop. publican presidential can

charles koch as in the koch brothers twenty five billion dollars and number five is the other koch david koch twenty five billion dollars net worth now the interesting thing all of those guys except for warren buffett have seen their net worth over the last year increased by billions of dollars and number seven is no exception we had to include him because it's such a big name george soros twenty two billion dollars up from fourteen billion dollars last year so quite a jump i don't know what these guys are doing right but more broadly when you look at executive pay in this country to kind of look at where that's gone in two thousand and ten and median pay increase substantially twenty seven percent according to usa today and now this is so that is a broad trend of the wealthy getting compensated more then there is this four of the five richest counties in the country are in the d.c. area law physics and gone worse for many middle class americans so i asked dimitri kristina's are our key contributor in economics blogger to connect the dots for me did he see any connection between the rich gett

me and actually girls david koch ten percent of the people who identify as tea party activists have democratic primary history in the last ninety percent of republicans no actually the bulk are independents but a big a disproportionate number of the republican primary i mean i've done it i've done to the tune of about six hundred thousand these are my numbers was twelve percent the primary in the last six years thirty four percent are a number of independents but regardless is a reasonable swath of america so i call it a pedestal low information voters i used to call them stupid people but i don't think they're stupid i think they're watching sports or the listening to music or working three jobs but so the republican primary voters are evil the democratic independents are stupid and they are and the democratic primary voters are acceptable the advantage of the line is you know we are the majority of the voters in america. that's basically just said no no no i sort of used to called stupid enough that it occurred to me that they're not stupid they're they're busy they're watching sports right

tied in fourth place are charles koch and david koch, the owners -- co-owners of american conglomerateindustries. they have about $25 billion each. in the third spot we have man, larry ellison, founder of business software giant oracle, worth some $33 billion. in the penultimate place we have warren buffett worth an estimated $39 billion. even he is eclipsed by this man's fortune, bill gates, reportedly worth $20 billion more than buffett. his fortune stands at just shy of $60 billion. we should also point out, manisha, those last two characters on the list, buffett and gates, in spite of being some of the world's most rich people, have said they're going to be giving almost all of that to charity. >> they were recently on a tour, they went to india recently and said particularly in a country where more and more billionaires are emerging, they were saying people need to give more that philanthropic causes. whatever they're doing, we should be taking notes. mr. gates has been making more money amid all the volatility, he's definitely doing something right. anyway, we'll have to figure t

the event was hosted by right wing activist billionaire brothers charles and david koch. ained audio from this top secret strategy session the kochs have funneled millions into the tea party movement. and now have their sights set on the next presidential election. here's charles koch addressing the group. >> phillip ellender head of the government and public affairs at koch industries specifically addressed mr. koch's statements through a statement released on the company's website. he was not referring to president obama in his remarks, he was referring to the mother of all wars comment made by saddam hussein on the eve of the first gulf war. charles koch went on to recognize donors who he says gave money to the cause. lots of money. >> joining me now is brad freeman an investigative journal journalist journalist. we just played the audio you obtained for mother jones magazine. great to have both of you with us tonight. brad, what does this tell us about the koch brothers? what does this audio tell us. does this tell us they're just in it to win it at all costs? >> well,

then charles and david koch. these brothers are in the news for financing some of the tea party. >>> those billionaires don't have to worry about paying the mortgage, perhaps. the utilities. or even buying food. most of us do. it's the number one issue in american homes. getting your financial house in order. today in our weekly financial fix can you afford your home if you were to lose your job? a recent survey says 68% of americans would not be able to make home payments for more than nine months if they became unemployed. financial consultant joins us now with ways to protect your family and your home. okay. let's begin with some of those pros and cons of refinancing pap lot of folks think that will help me save some money so that no matter what i could afford my house. is it that simple? >> well, right now you can get refinanced good luck because it's tough. let's talk about the pros and cons. the spros if you can refinance your house you can get a lower monthly payment which is a great thing. also you mentio

clamor for kristie from guys like ken langone and some of the really serious people and, of course, david koch, this populist chris christie has a lot, a lot of wealthy backers. and romney just can't quite close the deal. every time you think he's got some good luck, donald trump is not going to run and that was a joke anyway. perry galions in and everybody loves him and now he's really blown his chance to make a good impression. romney seems to just stand there and smile and say, yeah, this is going to be mine and it's not. somebody is always there to take it away from it. it's got to be really tempting for kristie to get in. >> like the guy that keeps asking the woman, the woman keeps saying i'm washing my hair tonight. i don't know what the comparison is. i guess i've never heard that. >> i did. >> but if i did i'd be miserable. >> it's a bad thing. >> it's not a good excuse. chris christie seemed intentionally vague about a presidential run. he is out there teasing after being implored by a supporter right there to get into this race. let's listen to the back and forth. >> i say this from

surely david weprin must have picked up some big-name, party endorsements. >> this is ed koch. remember me? i was once your mayor. [laughter] >> jon: you were, weren't you? i remember. why are you calling me? >> you know why i'm calling you? i want you to vote for bob turner for congress on tuesday. >> jon: holy [bleeped] ball. ed koch backed the republican candidate. did weprin get any endorsements? ♪ bob, ba, bob >> jon: that's bowser from sha-na-na. ask your parents to ask their parents. want to know how weak a candidate david weprin was? >> next tuesday morning i'm going to vote. there will probably be cameras around. i live in the district. what are you going to do? >> first of all, my mother lives in the district. i'll be happy to go with her to vote. >> jon: first of all, you don't live in the district you ran to represent, and two, you're happy to go with your mom to vote? sure. david, why are you walking so fast? we're going to vote, not put out a fire. by the way, you'll never believe who called me the other day, ed koch. he hates you. are you still running with that

needs to go and we can't just wait and hope that people like david lewis suddenly recover from the great forgetting. especially well the koch's of the billionaires are funding right wing think tanks like the cato institute and the reason foundation this isn't a movie the fate of the united states is at stake if people like david lewis are given the chance to lead we could be in serious trouble that's why we need to start teaching real history to our young people or young americans we need to show up at town hall meetings speak to your neighbors and friends write op eds in your local newspaper run for the local school board and share some real histories of this nation because as a country we must remember once we won what we once knew and that's how to create and sustain a middle class and keep a democracy healthy even when it's under assault from giant transnational corporations and cranky billionaires you have been through this before we made it through the gilded age and the crash of eight hundred ninety three a caused we made it through the roaring twenty's when the crash of republican great depression was caused by the we

do the koch brothers think they're at war? charles and his brother davidight-wing causes, funding everything from voter i.d. laws to anticlimate change, research in that area, supporting tea party initiatives, fighting to repeal president obama's affordable care, and they're showing no signs of stopping. listen to how charles worked up donors on the last day of the seminar. >> i hope you will stay with us, and also continue to do your utmost. because it isn't just your money we need. we need your energy, we need to bring in new partners, we can't do it alone. this group can't do it alone. we have to multiply ourselves, thousands and thousands fold. >> with me now, lee for thng. nbc has not independently confirmed the tape, but what can you tell us about these meetings? >> al, thanks for having me. to the best of my knowledge, this is charles koch on tape but regardless, this wouldn't surprise me charles koch says he thought stalin cook like -- and charles koch's father, fred koch, who found the john birch society made it very common he would compare the ei

koch gets up there. >> he gets up there and specifically tells the constituents that what you have to do is protect israel. >> protect israel not from david wepron but from barack obama. you should cast your vote vot out of loyalty to the state of israel. >> what's what he said. that's what he said, mark. >> not as if you were cooking this up. >> i understand politicians say all kinds of things all of the time. if you look at americans, americans are much smarter than our political class in general. you don't give them enough credit. you think you are single issue voters you are trying to stereotype. it is not appropriate and not correct. >> fred final say. we have got to go. i have go to hamove on to steren the next segment. >> say that again, fred? >> the poll including the most recent won the sienna one last week showed the economy and unemployment was the number one issue for all voters jews and non-jews alike. israel was low on the totem pole it was important to jews but it wasn't necessarily decisive. if it was decisive it was to the orthodox jews who make up a relatively small number maybe 20 to 25 percent. >> thank you. we are goi

david weprin for congress i hope you will, too. thanks. >> i'm for bob turner. i hope that he gets elected. >> reporter: rudy giuliani, ed kochg appearances for republican bob turner. this time, frustration with the economy trumped party line tradition here. according to a bloomberg poll released more than half the americans doubt the president's jobs plan will work. news is worse among independent voters he needs to win re-election. the other special election for congress went to the republicans, too, by a 22-point margin in reno, nevada. >> democrats will be whistling past the graveyard if they did not see this as a sign they are facing significant risk. >> reporter: a coast to coast rebuke that has republican candidates like rick perry proclalaiming early victory. >> last night's election results from new york to nevada sent signals that president obama will be a one term president. >> reporter: or at least a signal that a second term depends on more jobs and an improved economy. jim avila, abc news,eens tot lkg n th to be a fly on the at >> apparently had dinner at a restaurant in the donald's -- one of his restaurants, j