An Ill Wind Blows Some Good

I know. Hard to believe. Surrounded by economic death and destruction, corruption and perversion, theft and mendacity, it may be difficult to see a silver lining but believe me there is one. Paperwight found it and it's almost enough to make me think it might be worth what we're going through. Almost.

The conservative "think" tanks (I know - oxymoron) are losing sponsors after the Bush Economy Debacle proved they've been blowing smoke for 30 years.

These are trying times for most Washington, D.C. think tanks. Since the financial crisis began, the corporate and philanthropic foundations and donors who gird most think tanks have become stingier about their grants. In the case of AEI, the economic downturn has meant cutting back one prestige product and trimming some minor costs and low-level staff. AEI Outlooks are sent around digitally, instead of printed out en masse. Several long-time scholars have left for more complicated reasons. “I wouldn’t hear anything,” said one former staffer, “and then I’d notice that a name was off a door, or a scholar’s profile had been taken down from the web site.”

For liberals, a dip in AEI’s fortunes would be welcome news. This was the think tank that Slate’s Tim Noah called “the wellspring of President Bush’s worst ideas,” and its graduates include former United Nations Ambassador John Bolton, former Defense Policy Board Chairman Richard Perle, former Treasury Secretary John Snow, and Dick Cheney himself. There has been a mini-exile of neoconservatives from AEI, but there is little evidence that a sudden drying up of executive branch access is hurting the think tank. There are more mundane problems to worry about.

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Unlike many think tanks that largely depend on endowments, AEI’s funding sources are inherently less stable. “AEI is heavily funded by corporate philanthropy,” explained Christopher Levenick, the editor of the Philanthropy Roundtable’s magazine and the former W.H. Brady Doctoral Fellow at AEI. “Naturally, they’ve taken a hit. Folks who have sponsored them for years have fallen by the wayside. They’ve always been a different kind of non-profit and they’re hurting because of it.”

The details of AEI’s financial picture are private, and spokespeople for the think tank do not discuss fundraising or financial specifics. Much of its donor information is privileged, although some foundations reveal the size and purpose of the grants they have given AEI. But it is clear that the foundation grants and large corporate donations that go to AEI have changed, in ways that have affected the bottom line, overall spending, and individual scholars. Companies that have given generously to AEI in the past, such as General Motors, are facing harder times.

“We’ve contacted AEI,” said Greg Martin, a spokesman for the General Motors Foundation, “and we’ve told them that this is a very tough time for General Motors and we’re either cutting or closely reviewing the contributions we’re giving to think tanks.”

Heh. It's a beginning. Of course the rich are still rich and there's always Coors and Richard Mellon Scaife and a host of other billionaire philanthropic foundations (can you really consider them philanthropists if they only give to other rich people?) but it's at least possible that some of the worst (read: "most expensive to maintain") right-wing welfare recipients/programs may shit the bed. That's gotta be good, right? But the ironic paradox is so thick you couldn't cut it with a chain saw.

GM, a badly-run corporation failing in the market and seeking gummint handouts as a result, has to cut back the wingnut welfare it's been giving to the "scholars" at the American Enterprise Institute to pimp pro-corporation "free market" propaganda.

 

You could not make this shit up.

Comments

[Nell]

This is my favorite passage of the article:

The most obvious cutback has been the fate of The American, the magazine launched in 2006 by James Glassman ... to replace The American Enterprise. In November, word came down that the print version of the magazine would stop, and the publication would continue online under current Editor-in-Chief Nick Schulz.

Seeing the trend, you've got to figure that the magazine's new title is The...