[caption id=”attachment_143296″ align=”aligncenter” width=”3000″] In this photo May 22, 2012 file photo, Charles Koch speaks in his office at Koch Industries in Wichita, Kansas. (Bo Rader/The Wichita Eagle via AP, File)
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Despite lackluster growth for the American economy, Charles Koch believes annual growth rates of 4 percent are possible.
Speaking to a group of donors at a California meeting, Koch specified that he viewed growth rates as different than GDP.
“I think we can have growth rates in excess of 4 percent. When I’m talking about growth rates, I’m not talking about that GDP, which counts poison gas the same as it counts penicillin,” Koch was quoted as saying in Time.
During the second quarter of 2015, GDP increased 2.3 percent. How Koch could measure 4 percent growth is unclear, as GDP counts government spending, such as bombs and military spending, as identical growth to other economic sectors.
Similar to how wealth begets wealth, growth begets growth, thanks to compounding. With more economic growth, more opportunities get created with more ways to create value. The issue isn’t that few people understand the benefits of economic growth. It’s that disagreement on the means to reach that end is rife.
Koch heavily funds Americans for Prosperity, which advocates for lower taxation, less regulation, an end to corporate welfare, criminal justice reform, and drug legalization, among other issues.
The reasoning that Koch understands is that removing government from meddling in the economy creates more employment and larger economic returns. Hence an aversion to taxation, regulation, government subsidies, immigration restrictions, and drug prohibition.
