War on Anti-Poverty Programs One of the most violent attacks undertaken by conservative U.S. think tanks has been on the federal anti-poverty programs. Beginning in the 1980s the Manhattan Institute sponsored and promoted two publications that urged the elimination of the federal anti-poverty program. "Wealth and Poverty", concluded that poverty was the result of personal irresponsibility, while "Losing Ground: American Social Policy, 1950 - 1980", observed that anti-poverty programs reduced marriage incentives, discouraged workers form accepting low-wage jobs, and encouraged unintended births among low income teenage and adult women. These books were followed by Lawrence Mead's "Beyond Entitlement: The Social Obligations of Citizenship", which blamed governments for perpetuating poverty by not requiring welfare recipients to work. Other conservative grantees have used their funds for more than a decade to spread this kind of conservative political rhetoric and policy opinion through major media and conservative-controlled print and broadcast outlets. The redefinition of the problem and the demonization of the poor finally culminated in the passage of the |
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Examples of Mainly Corporate Funded Think Tanks: Cato Institute Founded in 1977 the Cato Institutes 1998 budget made up US$ 11 million. Its funding consists of corporate and private donations (especially from corporations and executives in the highly regulated industries of financial services, telecommunications and pharmaceuticals industries) and sales of publications. Catos corporate donors include tobacco firms: |
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Abolition of Resale Price Maintenance The London-based Institute for Economic Affairs (AEI) from its beginning undertook an extensive publishing program to push forward its free-market ideology. Among its publications was one particular paper, which had a direct and immediate political impact. Published in 1960 "Resale Price Maintenance and Shoppers' Choice" by Basil Yamey argued for the abolition of Resale Price Maintenance, which by fixing prices in shops prevented large stores from necessarily under-cutting smaller shops. Yamey argued that a free market in shop prices would save the shoppers £180,000,000 a year, and prices would fall by five percent. The publication of Yamey's paper was timed to coincide with a period of public debate on the subject to ensure maximum impact, and Yamey's suggestions were taken up by the incumbent Conservative Government. Although the Abolition of Resale Price Maintenance by |
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Examples of Mainly Corporate Funded Think Tanks: Manhattan Institute The Manhattan Institute, founded by |
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Bristol-Myers Squibb Company American company resulting from a merger in 1989 and dating to companies founded in 1858 and 1887. It produces toiletries, cosmetics, household cleaning products, pharmaceuticals, health foods and supplements, and health equipment and prostheses. Headquarters are in New York City. In 1989 the merger of Bristol-Myers Company and Squibb Corporation (descendant of a company founded in 1858) created one of the world's largest pharmaceutical companies. |
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World Bank The World Bank as well as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) originated during World War II in preparation for postwar international financial and economic cooperation. Initiated by the United States and Great Britain. The principal functions of the World Bank are to assist in the reconstruction and development of its member countries by facilitating capital investment for productive purposes, to promote private foreign investment by guarantees of and participation in loans and other investments made by private investors, and to make loans for productive purposes out of its own resources or funds borrowed by it when private capital is not available on reasonable terms. |
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Eli Lilly & Company Eli Lilly & Company discovers, develops, manufactures, and sells pharmaceutical and animal health care products. Research efforts are directed primarily towards discovering and developing products to diagnose and treat diseases in human beings and animals and to increase the efficiency of animal food production. Pharmaceutical products comprise neuroscience products, endocrine products and anti-invectives. Products are manufactured and distributed through owned or leased facilities in the United States, Puerto Rico, and 27 other countries and sold in approximately 160 countries. |
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Chevron Chevron is a U.S. petroleum corporation formed in 1926 with the merger of Standard Oil Company of California and Pacific Oil Company. Headquartered in San Francisco, it operates today in more than 90 countries, either directly or through affiliates. |
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Amoco Corporation American petroleum corporation that was founded in 1889 by the Standard Oil trust to direct the refining and marketing of oil in the Midwestern states. By the late 20th century, American operations still accounted for more than half of Amoco's total assets, though the company has been active in some 40 other countries in the areas of production, refining, and marketing. In addition to refining crude oil, Amoco is one of the largest producers of natural gas in the North American continent. |
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WIPO The World Intellectual Property Organization is one of the specialized agencies of the United Nations (UN), which was designed to promote the worldwide protection of both industrial property (inventions, trademarks, and designs) and copyrighted materials (literary, musical, photographic, and other artistic works). It was established by a convention signed in Stockholm in 1967 and came into force in 1970. The aims of WIPO are threefold. Through international cooperation, WIPO promotes the protection of intellectual property. Secondly, the organization supervises administrative cooperation between the Paris, Berne, and other intellectual unions regarding agreements on trademarks, patents, and the protection of artistic and literary work and thirdly through its registration activities the WIPO provides direct services to applicants for, or owners of, industrial property rights. |
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