Because you’re worth it !
Yesterday the New York Times posted a story titled: “Researchers or Corporate Allies? Think Tanks Blur the Line”.
[…] Think tanks, which position themselves as “universities without students,” have power in government policy debates because they are seen as researchers independent of moneyed interests. But in the chase for funds, think tanks are pushing agendas important to corporate donors, at times blurring the line between researchers and lobbyists. And they are doing so while reaping the benefits of their tax-exempt status, sometimes without disclosing their connections to corporate interests.
Thousands of pages of internal memos and confidential correspondence between Brookings and other donors — like JPMorgan Chase, the nation’s largest bank; K.K.R., the global investment firm; Microsoft, the software giant; and Hitachi, the Japanese conglomerate — show that financial support often came with assurances from Brookings that it would provide “donation benefits,” including setting up events featuring corporate executives with government officials, according to documents obtained by The New York Times and the New England Center for Investigative Reporting. (link)
As a person who has floated though the disconcerting world of Think Tank politics, the Times article was a worthy notation not only because of the substance within it, but also -and perhaps more aptly- because in the world of intellectual property amalgamation such a news article (research proposition) doesn’t just happen organically as a matter of happenstance.
