Charles Koch

The successful companies try to keep the new entrants down. Now that's great for a company like ours. We make more money that way because we have less competition and less innovation. But for the country as a whole, it's horrible. ”

We are not trying to prevent new clean energy businesses from succeeding. Any business that's economical, that can succeed in the marketplace, any form of energy, we're all for. As a matter of fact, we're investing in quite a number of them, ourselves - whether that's ethanol, renewable fuel oil. ”

The role of business is to provide products and services that make people's lives better - while using fewer resources - and to act lawfully and with integrity. ”

Far too many businesses have been all too eager to lobby for maintaining and increasing subsidies and mandates paid by taxpayers and consumers. ”

Koch companies employ 60,000 Americans, who make many thousands of products that Americans want and need. ”

Our elected officials would do well to remember that the most prosperous countries are those that allow consumers - not governments - to direct the use of resources. Allowing the government to pick winners and losers hurts almost everyone, especially our poorest citizens. ”

I studied what principles under-laid peace and prosperity and concluded the only way to achieve societal well-being was through a system of economic freedom. ”

I believe my business and non-profit investments are much more beneficial to societal well-being than sending more money to Washington. ”

People should only profit to the extent they make other peoples lives better. ”

Far from trying to rig the system, I have spent decades opposing cronyism and all political favors, including mandates, subsidies and protective tariffs - even when we benefit from them. ”