Warning: Dangerous think tanks ahead

Think Tanks Blur the Line reports that while think tanks in general “are seen as researchers independent of money interests,” some think tank biggies chase money from corporate donors.

[...] they are doing so while reaping the benefits of their tax-exempt status, sometimes without disclosing their connections to corporate interests.

The story starts with the liberal Brookings Institution, of all places, which talked up the $8 billion San Francisco Shipyard project while receiving some $400,000 from its developer, the Lennar Corp. The story asks:

When think tank scholars testify before Congress or speak at other events,” the Times warns, “the public is often not aware of the financial relationships between these scholars and for-profit companies that hire them.

When Brookings economist Robert Litan testified against a financial disclosure rule supported by Warren, he cited his own study, which disclosed it was supported by a large mutual fund asset manager.

How the Left is Silencing Free Speech, Kimberley Strassel writes how politicians such as Warren have flipped the concept of disclosure on its head: The American people know almost nothing about the working of government.

[...] disclosure is trained on the electorate, allowing the government to know everything about the political activities of Americans.