We'll I'm looking for some similar cleverness to denote those organizations which are currently called right-wing think tanks. What they have in common is that they (at least in the US) are all funded by super wealthy rightwingers, their personal foundations and, sometimes, large corporations. In this case they are trying to create the appearance of a real scholarly instituted or department within a university.
I haven't come up with anything, but I think a play on ivory-tower might be a useful jumping off point.
The more I study this phenomena the more I find that the same dozen to twenty names are behind almost all of them. In addition to being super wealthy the majority of them belong to wealthy families, but those who are the most ideological are not the founders of the family fortunes, but the second and third generations. So, despite all the claims about stifling entrepreneurship with more regulation these people inherited their wealth, hardly an entrepreneur in the bunch.
Over to you... Policies not Politics ---- Daily Landscape
The term think tank itself, however, was originally used in reference to organizations that offered military advice, most notably the RAND Corporation, formed originally in 1946 as an offshoot of Douglas Aircraft and which became an independent corporation in 1948. Until around 1970, there were no more than several dozen think tanks, mostly focused on offering non-partisan policy and military advice to the United States government, and generally with large staffs and research budgets. After 1970, the number of think tanks exploded, as many smaller new think tanks were formed to express various partisan, political, and ideological views. Until the 1940s, most think tanks were known only by the name of the institution. During the Second World War, think tanks were referred to as "brain boxes" after the slang term for the skull. The phrase "think tank" in wartime American slang referred to rooms in which strategists discussed war planning. The first recorded use of the phrase to refer to modern think tanks was in 1959, and by the 1960s the term was commonly used to describe RAND and other groups assisting the armed forces. In recent times, the phrase "think tank" has become applied to a wide range of institutions, and there are no precise definitions of the term. Marketing or public relations organizations, especially of an international character, sometimes refer to themselves as think tanks, for example.
Until around 1970, there were no more than several dozen think tanks, mostly focused on offering non-partisan policy and military advice to the United States government, and generally with large staffs and research budgets. After 1970, the number of think tanks exploded, as many smaller new think tanks were formed to express various partisan, political, and ideological views.
Until the 1940s, most think tanks were known only by the name of the institution. During the Second World War, think tanks were referred to as "brain boxes" after the slang term for the skull. The phrase "think tank" in wartime American slang referred to rooms in which strategists discussed war planning. The first recorded use of the phrase to refer to modern think tanks was in 1959, and by the 1960s the term was commonly used to describe RAND and other groups assisting the armed forces. In recent times, the phrase "think tank" has become applied to a wide range of institutions, and there are no precise definitions of the term. Marketing or public relations organizations, especially of an international character, sometimes refer to themselves as think tanks, for example.
They register themselves as educational 501(c)3 but their "scholarship" is absolutely inexistent. CEI, Heritage, AEI, etc, complete jokes that the IRS could destroy in a snap if it was doing its job.
And yes, you see the same cast of rich filths over and over and over, most of them heirs who never did a thing but collect a check from their daddy's estate: the Walton family, Richard Mellon Scaife, etc. So much for free enterprise and entrepreneurship...
