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The fact scientists could look at the same data about lead in the environment over time, and some arguing lead in gasoline was fine and others arguing it was a catastrophe waiting to happen... makes a person think that 'trust the science' and just listening to one lab, school, think tank, organization, etc etc...you're ultimately listening to the opinion of someone who has money linked to things going their way.
Let's analyze this logically. Think thanks are paid lots of money to hire well paid experts to formulate ideas and arguments to convince governments. Who has that kind of money? The rich. So it's simple. Think tanks are lobbying organization funded by the rich to influence lawmakers to pass laws that benefit those rich who spent the money for t his purpose. It's a form of legalized bribery and political manipulation and should be illegal.
Think tanks are like corporate consultants: they may have started out as an independent insight, but have since gotten coopted into inventing justifications for their sponsor’s predetermined decisions and act as a hired scapegoat if those decisions don’t pan out.
As the video played on, I couldn't help but notice how all of these points about think tanks also apply to management consulting firms. At least the latter don't try to masquerade as "non-profits".
i misread the title as "WTF Do *You* Think Tanks Actually Do?" and i was like "well they're used as line breakers, like shock troops or heavy cavalry in ancient/medieval times, right?"
Think Tanks don’t really educate politicians but rather help them sell whatever it is they want. Today it seems most politicians decision is not made by themselves but rather other interest groups or politicians above them.
Things have grown so complex and there is so much information to juggle that it has seemingly become nigh impossible to effectively run things without the aid of a group that claims to know a lot about a particular issue…someone needs to start building an AI that can run the government.
Best way to sum up think tanks is that they are the inverse of university studies: They have a solution already, and come up with studies and research that can justify that said solution.
I am currently dabbling in consulting. I was stunned in a recent training by a senior in our firm who was trying to explain to us the "story-boarding" technique. He emphasized that you have to form an opinion right at the beginning and then start collect data and perform analysis that will support your claims as evidence. This is the reverse of the scientific method.
Yes exactly, though I’m not sure it applies to all organizations mentioned in the video. But for many organizations it is indeed the inverse of the scientific method. They start with the answer and then look for detailed data that will support it. I mean, that’s still better than making stuff up, and everyone knows certain organizations have that blind spot. These kinds of organizations are the ones most likely to be labeled as think tanks. There are organizations that tend to collect and analyze all the data before trying to answer the question though, and politicians know which is which.
This is my favorite video of yours so far. As someone who used to work in big consulting l know for a fact that consultants fall for think tank data a lot . And sometimes the recipient of that flawed consultation is a company that donates money to.those same think tanks to generate intellectual sounding propaganda. Big business have been such prolific propagandists for so long that they can't escape falling for the very lies they helped spread.
The fact scientists could look at the same data about lead in the environment over time, and some arguing lead in gasoline was fine and others arguing it was a catastrophe waiting to happen... makes a person think that 'trust the science' and just listening to one lab, school, think tank, organization, etc etc...you're ultimately listening to the opinion of someone who has money linked to things going their way.
@@Wary_Of_Extremes The thing with science is that it's a much more open and collaborative process where over time it's very hard for such biases to survive when independent research labs have all taken a stab at the topic. The collective aggregated research will tend to the truth. Of course, when a topic is new or very fringe, it can take a long time before we can be confident in the scientific results.
As a political science student, What they do is don’t come up with new ideas but rather output data collections, policy ideas, and rhetorical devices/arguments that fit a certain point of view. A think tank bankrolled by a neoliberal will cherrypick only data which backs up their arguments for low tax low regulation, generate policy ideas which are congruent with neoliberal ethical and fiscal/monetary arguments, and provide tag-lines/arguments which can be used to rally the public towards a neoliberal issue position
@@codniggh1139 how did you come to the conclusion that this means politicians want to spend more money? Think tanks tend to be funded by non politicians and try to influence politicians, not the other way around
@@tomlxyz - A really good way to build support for your political platform is to funnel government spending to potential and current political support. Simple and easy example : Federal money for your towns school. Especially if it’s already a good school with lots of people who like it already. Making it easy to say “I did a good thing for the good thing that we all agree is good” Politics 101 - toot your horn. Now, critial thinkers will see through this… but they see through “everything” and it’s a wonder if smart people even see anything since the world is so transparent to them.
@@tomlxyz so politicians look for thin tanks that promote public spending or control of spending or regulations that create advantages to certain companies. That's not neoliberal.
I know a guy who founded a think tank just to get into business school, and his local MP unironically quoted the drivel he put out as if it were legitimate 😂
I respect the fact that you (monitarily) optemized the format of your video's to keep engagement all the way through and immediately reccomend another video with a slightly related topic so that people keep watching. Very smart and very effective
"Think tanks will work hard to make sure a member of their staff is there to put across the view of their employers." They just won't tell you who their employers are, or where the money they're offering you is coming from.
Absolutely. I laughed out loud when he said that think tanks hire 'smart people' - Please. The vast majority of those who work at think tanks, consulting groups and NGOs are genuine and complete morons with slick tongues; those who are smart enough to realize how morally bankrupt and despicable their work is and keep doing it are soulless psychopathic ghouls.
Short answer: They are people with $ that tells your elected officials what to do. Long answer: They are people with $ that tells your elected officials what to do.
11:30 What? 'In a perfect world politicians would just ask their constituents for advice on the issues they were legislating' That would probably not be a perfect world. The public is widely misinformed about a whole range of issues, and always will be, for the same reason politicians are - people have lives and not every is read-up on nitrates particulates in fertiliser. And when constituents _do_ have opinions, often those opinions are likely to be conflicting between different groups - farmers, environmental activists and doctors, for example, might have quite different opinions on regulating fertiliser, even if they are all constituents, and the politician would need to be informed to decide. I'm not saying think tanks are the answer, but some kind of technocratic insight is inherently necessary for policymaking.
Basically Think Tanks are like AI, they can produce reports, but you don’t actually know the accuracy or legitimacy of the information provided so you have to fact check the output if you have a modicum of intellectual honesty 🤷♂️
The fact scientists could look at the same data about lead in the environment over time, and some arguing lead in gasoline was fine and others arguing it was a catastrophe waiting to happen... makes a person think that 'trust the science' and just listening to one lab, school, think tank, organization, etc etc...you're ultimately listening to the opinion of someone who has money linked to things going their way.
Ultimately research being independently peer reviewed is what backs up "trust the science." However, based on this video, think tanks don't need peer reviewed so good luck to us.
@@hamsterbrigade Peer reviews don't mean much when your peers are begging the same institutions for money. Which is what "scientists" do nowadays, write preapproved papers and beg for money.
Peer review means reviewed by a peer. So another guy in your think tank, another buddy from your grad student days, or another professor eating off grant money your corporate interest pays for.
@Wary_Of_Extremes The thing with science is that it's a much more open and collaborative process where over time it's very hard for such biases to survive when independent research labs have all taken a stab at the topic. The collective aggregated research will tend to the truth. Of course, when a topic is new or very fringe, it can take a long time before we can be confident in the scientific results.
@@HamHamHampster There are some of that going on, but by and large it's not really the case for any topic that's big enough to garner public interest. And scientists themselves are also cautious to claim things until they're confident similar findings have been made by other independent groups. But what scientists think within their bubble is of course often very different from what lazy journalists or lay people with large social media platforms say.
I'm anti Ozempic AND big food. You know what would really solve the obesity crisis while also tackling the energy and pollution crisis? A return to walkable cities and public transit over suburbs and car centric culture. A side effect is we'd know the people in our neighborhood more and as a result socialize rather than sitting around looking at screens as our primary form of entertainment, which is the other major cause of obesity.
Food industry chemicals definitely drive obesity. I can literally feel my health degrade coming from say California to the East Coast where they’re not so snobbish about organic foods. So far the most nourishing meals I’ve had were in the EU, and the worst were in Mainland China.
@thealienrobotanthropologis8276 you're half right, but the first half of your paragraph is entirely wrong. People didn't eat whatever and as much as they wanted, most people were too poor for that. And they did lead significantly more active lifestyles. And there was a bigger range in the movements they made throughout the day. Automation brought on a lot of jobs that required a lot less movement and a lot more repeated actions. That's why you see old people with curled in fingers. It's job related.
I'm in favor of walkable cities and such, but keep it real. Don't assume every fat person is lazy or every skinny person is active. Plenty of hard working fat people and lazy thin people so that alone is not the root cause.
the US is a very strange country to visit as a European. In Europe, you know that the centre of a bigger city will be a nice place to spend an afternoon, walk around, see some shops, visit a museum, have dinner in a nice restaurant, and only in the evening go back to your car that you parked somewhere... in the US the center of a city might be a big intersection with a mcDonalds and a KFC, a laundromat and a TGI Friday... it's pretty sad, very uninviting... Europe has also this tradition of having places where you can sit at a table and enjoy a beer or a snack, in the US that's all rather limited... room for improvement... and if the argument is it would attract the homeless people, plenty of homeless people in downtown Los Angeles...
No, lobbyists are worse because they represent companies that can afford to fund campaigns. The think tanks don’t operate in the dark (everyone knows who funds Heritage and Cato for example, but they still come up with some very insightful analysis).
big food makes the recommended dietary rules, so eat your cheese and red meat and enjoy... guilt free, until you need medication, then that's also a win...
@@marcdc6809I think you mearnt to say big pharma there. Anyhow, they are both trying to screw you, one is trying to do it quickly and the other slowly
So here is how it works: 1) Think tank takes medium amount of money from big business and talks to Government. 2) Think tank convinces government authorities to contract with big business for massive amount of government contracts. (also medium amount of money flows to government authorities in this step). 3) big business makes disgusting amounts of money producing expensive parts and/or maintenance heavy equipment (or any random "service") for government that the people never asked for. 4) final step is the people pay absurd amounts of money to the government.
But there's a failsafe mechanism! If a politician does bad stuff, people can vote him out of the office. And vote in someone fresh and new, without the baggage of private deals and connections. This new person will either be powerless, or will have to accept questionable deals and connections
The other reason think thanks have become so bad is that congress used to have an office of subject matter experts that they could consult with on bills, who would tell them what the effects would likely be of complex legislation they're proposing. They had experts in all sorts of fields that congress could consult with. But when Newt Gingrich and Republicans took control of congress in the 1990's they decided to completely axe that entire office. And the experts are so experienced in their fields that members of congress simply can't afford to hire them as part of their staff.
@@tcgb311The comment was referring to the Office of Technology Assessment and you can find a lot of articles about its closure. It was widely seen as an extremely important source of source of scientific analysis on behalf of Congress. They worked for Congress, so they weren’t beholden to companies. It’s loss left made it very difficult for congressional representatives to fact check what they were told by lobbyists.
Another issue with Congressional budgeting that gets talked about by current and former members is how the vilification of pay raises for congress counterproductively ends up pushing them towards outside moneyed interest groups. The current congressional salary is $174k and has been since 2009 (i.e. no adjustments for inflation). However, congress members have to effectively pay for places to live both in their constituent district and in Washington DC in order for them to do their job. $174k a year will get you a decent place in DC, but once you add in the payments for a second home elsewhere, that salary doesn't go far enough to cover the bills. The only ways for them to get by is to either already be rich or to take money from outside groups. The extra money doesn't help congress members that are already wealthy, so the lack of pay increases only hurts congress members representative of middle-class American wealth and ends up pushing them out of politics.
Did you know/remember that the Congressional Research Service has existed in the US Congress since 1913 Who does the same thing as Rand, The Brookings Institution and the Heritage Foundation?
They do not point out that accounting/finance should have been mandatory in high schools for girls and boys since Sputnik. Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations has been free on the internet since 2001. He used the word 'education' Eighty Times. You can find multiple instances of "read, write and account" not arithmetic. But Milton Friedman slapped us around with the "Invisible Hand" that Smith only used once.
I’ve always had the impression that Rand was a highly reputable organization, with really dedicated people, so I was surprised to see them mentioned so often. As you noted, they are typically funded by the government agencies so they aren’t beholden to corporate interests.
I like to think that RUclips has its own collective of think tanks.... So what I've done on my channel is I've categorized a lot of RUclips content creators content into a complex playlist categorized in the eight wellness factors. For now I put this one in education and skepticism under intellectual wellness, but I'm going to rename that specific playlist to knowledge and skepticism in the future, and make another separate playlist for schooling and education. I think I've got lots of work to do on this project. Thank you for everything that you do!
"A person who thinks all the time has nothing to think about except thoughts. So he loses touch with reality, and lives in a world of illusion" Is this why government is so incompetent?
This video reminds be about how The Coca Cola company paid online nutritionist influencers to tell their audiences that drinking Coca Cola was good and healthy, actually.
Im not american. I just dont understand why to call it Think Thanks when it clearly is a consultancy job. More names for what? Just makes the topic unnecesarily complex imo
I think this video is a great example of why so many people feel like their vote doesn't matter. If the person you vote for isn't actually being a politician and instead just outsource their job to unelected think tanks who are pushing the highest bidders agenda and that is their official "policy position" instead of whatever got them into office, its hard to feel like you're doing your civic duty when the one's you elected aren't either.
I definitely see why policy makers need help understanding this horribly complex and messy world, but it sucks that the people who should be giving advice are instead acting as corporate agents.
I think a way to meditate this and lobbying could be having experts directly hired by the government to advise politicians. That way there wouldn’t be a conflict of interests
Love 6:39 . If you want to get money out of politics, we should start with voting against the party whose appointed Supreme Court justices gave us Citizens United v. FEC.
I thought we elected representatives to be an extension of our judgment to make decisions on our behalf. I didn't vote for someone to just have someone else whisper all of the "solutions" into their ear.
The average person is just not knowledgeable enough on some issues to make intelligent decisions, not to mention some decisions require rather swift actions that leave little time for methodical debate and understanding.
7:11 E scooters actually will save lives, bust congestion, and help the environment! They have all the transportation benefits of bikes, plus they can fit in small apartments. No need to build any special storage.
When the government budget cones up and people ask why the government is spending money researching things, this is why. So they could make an informed choice. Now people we an agenda are footing the bill and that's going as well as you think it would.
00:00 🧠 Think tanks wield significant influence in shaping local, state, national, and global policies by employing experts to advocate their viewpoints to policymakers. 01:51 📊 Think tanks conduct research, produce studies, and offer expert advice to lawmakers, helping them make informed decisions on complex issues. 02:49 💰 Funding for think tanks primarily comes from industry donors, influencing policy decisions in favor of their interests, with over 800 think tanks operating in America. 05:50 💸 Think tanks receive significant funding from various sources, including foreign governments, to influence policy outcomes in favor of their donors. 06:46 🤝 Think tanks play a role in shaping legislation by producing reports aligned with the interests of their donors, influencing political debates and decision-making processes. 11:52 🏛 Think tanks have become integral in drafting legislation for politicians, who often lack the time, expertise, or resources to develop effective bills independently.
This video was a good balance of the good parts and bad parts of what think tanks do. This was already covered in the video, but - ideally, think tanks would be motivated to check an balance each other. It would be the fact checkers checking other fact checkers. The problem is that only a few viewpoints are actually profitable in our current incentive system. Of course, the think tanks depend on the support of profit-makers, and there you go. Still, not having think tanks at all would be even worse. It's an imperfect system, but hopefully we can find a way to improve the incentive structures so as to make it better.
I kind of resent picking on scooter think tanks when there are so many bigger, more evil examples. I assume that Mr. Money Works is trying to avoid getting sued.
For some reason I read the title and was expecting Tanks like A1 Abrams or Leopard tanks or something. Lol, what was I thinking 😅. I'm on the wrong channel
same here, disappointed, with a serving of popcorn, at least some arguments like how Russia discovered tanks need infantry protection to be effective... thinking the blitzkrieg was a one off opportunity that could only work against the French with slow tanks... ah well, ...
That's the reason why Civil Servants with technical background and specialisation are crucial. Not some shady corpo funded group of unquestioned similar ideologists.
Think tanks exist across the board for anything significant enough people care about. It's why they're also called "special interest groups" sometimes. One can point to examples of bad corporate or influence, but there are plenty of influences counter to them both for good and for ill. I think it's kind of silly at 11:27 to say that without think takes, politicians would just ask individual experts how to run the government. 1. That will result in the exact same outcome. We should stop glorying false expertise as having the cure-all to government issues. A doctor might have a good idea how to cure an illness but zero idea of the logistics and costs of implementing a national healthcare system 2. The idea that policy in any way can be used to benefit or harm an industry or even your own personal finances will inherently give incentive to every single person affected by it. This results in interest groups when you realize a giant entity like the US government can make or break your livelihood. The only fix is diminishing the power of the government, and this happens less often.
European think Tanks might juat work vwry diffently than in the US. For one, they're usually predominantly pubkic sector sponsored and employed a workforce that is on average under 35 years old
This is honestly very depressing. How can you possibly prevent this kind of lobbying problem? Because you need to delegate decision making to other people at all, then they can be bought. Do you try to mitigate the impact of people being bought, perhaps by having a very large number of representatives so that it isn't cost-effective to buy votes? If so, how do you ensure the entrance of people into said representative positions remains fair, and how would YOU pay enough to each of these representatives to keep them onboard? Do you try to anonymize the representatives so they can't be reached? But if so, remember that representatives are incentivized to partake in lobbying, so you would need to make it impossible to get any proof that they are indeed representatives (i.e. anyone can pretend to be a representative). And it only takes one opportunity for someone to prove that they're indeed a representative for that person to be compromised forever. Such a system seems only doable in a fully-online and anonymous situation but even then it drastically limits what interaction the representatives are able to have (pretty much only anonymous votes would be allowed) - no chance it will work for real governments. Or do you simply avoid delegating decision making to anyone else? To me, this seems to imply totalitarianism or full reliance on sentient AI. It seems doable in the context of a small company or organization but not for a democratically elected government. Finally, there are esoteric solutions such as 24/7 surveillance or mind-reading technology, so representatives can't be influenced even if they want to be... Given how bad the alternatives are, perhaps using future technology to have representatives monitored at all times (in exchange for being paid very well) is not as abhorrent as it first seems?
I like how you put the Puerto Rico flag in 11:30 under the title "International Matters" even though Puerto Rico is a US Commonwealth or Territory so basically domestic matters. Maybe you ment the Cuban flag? But hey as a pro-independence backer for Puerto Rico that is as close as I will get to see it see it. I'll take the W 🥲 loved the video nonetheless. Most of the think tanks you highlighted are also the same ones I see representing during many PragerU videos. 😂
Why is your debate at 7:30 between team scooter and team pedestrian? Both of them are being run over by cars, and the scooter riders are more likely to walk places as well. The only people who really hate them are in the car lobby because that's what they're directly competing with. There is no pedestrian lobby selling feet
The car lobby definitely has their own think tanks as well, but in SF and LA where I have seen these companies operate a lot of pedestrians are not happy with them either.
If MacGyver (1980s) taught me anything, they’re special law enforcement/humanitarian agencies on a non-profit model, or at least anything called the Phoenix Foundation is. :D
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The fact scientists could look at the same data about lead in the environment over time, and some arguing lead in gasoline was fine and others arguing it was a catastrophe waiting to happen... makes a person think that 'trust the science' and just listening to one lab, school, think tank, organization, etc etc...you're ultimately listening to the opinion of someone who has money linked to things going their way.
Let's analyze this logically. Think thanks are paid lots of money to hire well paid experts to formulate ideas and arguments to convince governments. Who has that kind of money? The rich. So it's simple. Think tanks are lobbying organization funded by the rich to influence lawmakers to pass laws that benefit those rich who spent the money for t his purpose. It's a form of legalized bribery and political manipulation and should be illegal.
They manufacture consent.
I still want to ask the author of the video:can you offer something in return, or can you only criticize?
Think tanks are like corporate consultants: they may have started out as an independent insight, but have since gotten coopted into inventing justifications for their sponsor’s predetermined decisions and act as a hired scapegoat if those decisions don’t pan out.
As the video played on, I couldn't help but notice how all of these points about think tanks also apply to management consulting firms. At least the latter don't try to masquerade as "non-profits".
Haha exactly what I said under another comment, it's a hedge against failure by claiming the "experts" said it so it wasn't actually a stupid decision
@@caty863 Agree
"making evidence"
Sounds about right
i misread the title as "WTF Do *You* Think Tanks Actually Do?" and i was like "well they're used as line breakers, like shock troops or heavy cavalry in ancient/medieval times, right?"
Lol same. Tanks. Well they are easily movable artillery and protect the troops in them.
You're not alone😂
Drones and planes are better imo
No, they contain water and fish!
@ElectrostatiCrow It's all about combined arms. Without airpower, artillery, armor *and* infantry, you're not advancing anywhere.
Think Tanks don’t really educate politicians but rather help them sell whatever it is they want. Today it seems most politicians decision is not made by themselves but rather other interest groups or politicians above them.
Believe it or not, but lawyers don't know everything.
today???? glad to know this hasn't been an ongoing issue
It's a bit like CEOs hiring Mckinsey so when everything goes to shit they can say "hurr durr the experts told me to!!1!"
Things have grown so complex and there is so much information to juggle that it has seemingly become nigh impossible to effectively run things without the aid of a group that claims to know a lot about a particular issue…someone needs to start building an AI that can run the government.
US laws are written by lawyers hired by corporations then passed to politicians.
Best way to sum up think tanks is that they are the inverse of university studies: They have a solution already, and come up with studies and research that can justify that said solution.
I am currently dabbling in consulting. I was stunned in a recent training by a senior in our firm who was trying to explain to us the "story-boarding" technique. He emphasized that you have to form an opinion right at the beginning and then start collect data and perform analysis that will support your claims as evidence. This is the reverse of the scientific method.
so they're exactly like universities. got it.
That's exactly what universities do. Where the hell do you live?
So facts really do care about your feelings then?
Yes exactly, though I’m not sure it applies to all organizations mentioned in the video. But for many organizations it is indeed the inverse of the scientific method. They start with the answer and then look for detailed data that will support it. I mean, that’s still better than making stuff up, and everyone knows certain organizations have that blind spot. These kinds of organizations are the ones most likely to be labeled as think tanks. There are organizations that tend to collect and analyze all the data before trying to answer the question though, and politicians know which is which.
Figure out how to spend other people's money.
It’s a hard job
Well you need actual tanks for that
@@thecookiemeister5374 i knew it was a good decision to hire The Institute For More Tanks on this
I think that’s the textbook definition!
isnt that Every job?
So basically a "Think Tank" used to be used like a search engine, but became the policy maker.
just like google AI in the future.
This is my favorite video of yours so far.
As someone who used to work in big consulting l know for a fact that consultants fall for think tank data a lot .
And sometimes the recipient of that flawed consultation is a company that donates money to.those same think tanks to generate intellectual sounding propaganda. Big business have been such prolific propagandists for so long that they can't escape falling for the very lies they helped spread.
The fact scientists could look at the same data about lead in the environment over time, and some arguing lead in gasoline was fine and others arguing it was a catastrophe waiting to happen... makes a person think that 'trust the science' and just listening to one lab, school, think tank, organization, etc etc...you're ultimately listening to the opinion of someone who has money linked to things going their way.
Are you sure the people arguing lead was OK were scientists? I would certainly want to know whether they had credible credentials in a relevant field.
@@Wary_Of_Extremes The thing with science is that it's a much more open and collaborative process where over time it's very hard for such biases to survive when independent research labs have all taken a stab at the topic. The collective aggregated research will tend to the truth. Of course, when a topic is new or very fringe, it can take a long time before we can be confident in the scientific results.
The documentary "Why We Fight" talks about Think Tanks well.
They are also a great way to move foreign money into US politics
As a political science student, What they do is don’t come up with new ideas but rather output data collections, policy ideas, and rhetorical devices/arguments that fit a certain point of view. A think tank bankrolled by a neoliberal will cherrypick only data which backs up their arguments for low tax low regulation, generate policy ideas which are congruent with neoliberal ethical and fiscal/monetary arguments, and provide tag-lines/arguments which can be used to rally the public towards a neoliberal issue position
Well, by logic, politicians want to spend more rather than to save money, so it is more likely that corruption goes to the side that spends more.
@@codniggh1139 how did you come to the conclusion that this means politicians want to spend more money? Think tanks tend to be funded by non politicians and try to influence politicians, not the other way around
Polysci students be like “Neoliberal arguments, rhetorical devices 🤓☝️”
@@tomlxyz - A really good way to build support for your political platform is to funnel government spending to potential and current political support.
Simple and easy example : Federal money for your towns school. Especially if it’s already a good school with lots of people who like it already. Making it easy to say “I did a good thing for the good thing that we all agree is good”
Politics 101 - toot your horn.
Now, critial thinkers will see through this… but they see through “everything” and it’s a wonder if smart people even see anything since the world is so transparent to them.
@@tomlxyz so politicians look for thin tanks that promote public spending or control of spending or regulations that create advantages to certain companies. That's not neoliberal.
I know a guy who founded a think tank just to get into business school, and his local MP unironically quoted the drivel he put out as if it were legitimate 😂
Has RUclips messed up the watch page layout for anybody else or just me?
Yes they have I think! There was an algorithm update recently like this past week
In moble i havent noticed a diffrence
If you mean "Do the 'watch next' links appear too early?", they also do in my case.
My subscriptions feed has way too many RUclipsrs using the community posts to repost their old videos.
it is something that has been stressing me out but I do not know where to complain from
I respect the fact that you (monitarily) optemized the format of your video's to keep engagement all the way through and immediately reccomend another video with a slightly related topic so that people keep watching. Very smart and very effective
"Think tanks will work hard to make sure a member of their staff is there to put across the view of their employers."
They just won't tell you who their employers are, or where the money they're offering you is coming from.
End story: those in power are idiots. Those who are not idiots are corrupt.
Absolutely. I laughed out loud when he said that think tanks hire 'smart people' - Please. The vast majority of those who work at think tanks, consulting groups and NGOs are genuine and complete morons with slick tongues; those who are smart enough to realize how morally bankrupt and despicable their work is and keep doing it are soulless psychopathic ghouls.
All I know from Control The Narrative is that it can't go tits up.
lol
think tanks are like the illuminati, but better, fail safe...
"GUH"
@@JohnDoe-ph6if I too am sufficiently leveraged for my personal risk tolerance
Based comment
Short answer: They are people with $ that tells your elected officials what to do.
Long answer: They are people with $ that tells your elected officials what to do.
11:30 What? 'In a perfect world politicians would just ask their constituents for advice on the issues they were legislating'
That would probably not be a perfect world. The public is widely misinformed about a whole range of issues, and always will be, for the same reason politicians are - people have lives and not every is read-up on nitrates particulates in fertiliser. And when constituents _do_ have opinions, often those opinions are likely to be conflicting between different groups - farmers, environmental activists and doctors, for example, might have quite different opinions on regulating fertiliser, even if they are all constituents, and the politician would need to be informed to decide.
I'm not saying think tanks are the answer, but some kind of technocratic insight is inherently necessary for policymaking.
Basically Think Tanks are like AI, they can produce reports, but you don’t actually know the accuracy or legitimacy of the information provided so you have to fact check the output if you have a modicum of intellectual honesty 🤷♂️
The fact scientists could look at the same data about lead in the environment over time, and some arguing lead in gasoline was fine and others arguing it was a catastrophe waiting to happen... makes a person think that 'trust the science' and just listening to one lab, school, think tank, organization, etc etc...you're ultimately listening to the opinion of someone who has money linked to things going their way.
Ultimately research being independently peer reviewed is what backs up "trust the science." However, based on this video, think tanks don't need peer reviewed so good luck to us.
@@hamsterbrigade Peer reviews don't mean much when your peers are begging the same institutions for money. Which is what "scientists" do nowadays, write preapproved papers and beg for money.
Peer review means reviewed by a peer. So another guy in your think tank, another buddy from your grad student days, or another professor eating off grant money your corporate interest pays for.
@Wary_Of_Extremes The thing with science is that it's a much more open and collaborative process where over time it's very hard for such biases to survive when independent research labs have all taken a stab at the topic. The collective aggregated research will tend to the truth. Of course, when a topic is new or very fringe, it can take a long time before we can be confident in the scientific results.
@@HamHamHampster There are some of that going on, but by and large it's not really the case for any topic that's big enough to garner public interest. And scientists themselves are also cautious to claim things until they're confident similar findings have been made by other independent groups. But what scientists think within their bubble is of course often very different from what lazy journalists or lay people with large social media platforms say.
I'm anti Ozempic AND big food. You know what would really solve the obesity crisis while also tackling the energy and pollution crisis? A return to walkable cities and public transit over suburbs and car centric culture. A side effect is we'd know the people in our neighborhood more and as a result socialize rather than sitting around looking at screens as our primary form of entertainment, which is the other major cause of obesity.
The weight loss drugs might make people more slim, but when you view you body as a machine which you feed junk, it's not going to run well
Food industry chemicals definitely drive obesity. I can literally feel my health degrade coming from say California to the East Coast where they’re not so snobbish about organic foods. So far the most nourishing meals I’ve had were in the EU, and the worst were in Mainland China.
@thealienrobotanthropologis8276 you're half right, but the first half of your paragraph is entirely wrong. People didn't eat whatever and as much as they wanted, most people were too poor for that. And they did lead significantly more active lifestyles. And there was a bigger range in the movements they made throughout the day. Automation brought on a lot of jobs that required a lot less movement and a lot more repeated actions. That's why you see old people with curled in fingers. It's job related.
I'm in favor of walkable cities and such, but keep it real. Don't assume every fat person is lazy or every skinny person is active. Plenty of hard working fat people and lazy thin people so that alone is not the root cause.
the US is a very strange country to visit as a European. In Europe, you know that the centre of a bigger city will be a nice place to spend an afternoon, walk around, see some shops, visit a museum, have dinner in a nice restaurant, and only in the evening go back to your car that you parked somewhere... in the US the center of a city might be a big intersection with a mcDonalds and a KFC, a laundromat and a TGI Friday... it's pretty sad, very uninviting... Europe has also this tradition of having places where you can sit at a table and enjoy a beer or a snack, in the US that's all rather limited... room for improvement... and if the argument is it would attract the homeless people, plenty of homeless people in downtown Los Angeles...
So, money wins. Got it.
bullshit walks, and bullshit is the argument that has no money to back it... sef fulfilling prophecy
Money always wins. If you want a rare example when it doesn't, see France, la Terreur.
@Demmrir In that case, Violence won.
corporatocracy moment 🎉🎉 🥳
Democracy? You mean competitive lobbying?
I had no idea this was going on. I thought lobbyists were bad, these think tanks operate 100% in the dark. Thanks for exposing them. Very eye opening.
No, lobbyists are worse because they represent companies that can afford to fund campaigns. The think tanks don’t operate in the dark (everyone knows who funds Heritage and Cato for example, but they still come up with some very insightful analysis).
9:00 "because it will affect their (ahem*cough) biggest customers"
I see what you did there
Finding out that big pharma and big food are fighting is the kind of good news I didn’t know I needed today 🥴
big food makes the recommended dietary rules, so eat your cheese and red meat and enjoy... guilt free, until you need medication, then that's also a win...
@@marcdc6809I think you mearnt to say big pharma there.
Anyhow, they are both trying to screw you, one is trying to do it quickly and the other slowly
And journalists wonder why no one trusts them anymore.
Mainly those in the mainstream media, yes
@@kianafok3226Especially those in mainstream media
So here is how it works:
1) Think tank takes medium amount of money from big business and talks to Government.
2) Think tank convinces government authorities to contract with big business for massive amount of government contracts. (also medium amount of money flows to government authorities in this step).
3) big business makes disgusting amounts of money producing expensive parts and/or maintenance heavy equipment (or any random "service") for government that the people never asked for.
4) final step is the people pay absurd amounts of money to the government.
But there's a failsafe mechanism! If a politician does bad stuff, people can vote him out of the office. And vote in someone fresh and new, without the baggage of private deals and connections. This new person will either be powerless, or will have to accept questionable deals and connections
But what if the "think tank" is he, directly or indirectly connected with the state, as, for example, in Of Russia?
The other reason think thanks have become so bad is that congress used to have an office of subject matter experts that they could consult with on bills, who would tell them what the effects would likely be of complex legislation they're proposing. They had experts in all sorts of fields that congress could consult with. But when Newt Gingrich and Republicans took control of congress in the 1990's they decided to completely axe that entire office. And the experts are so experienced in their fields that members of congress simply can't afford to hire them as part of their staff.
Do you have a link to a source that mentions this? I'd like to read more about it.
@@tcgb311The comment was referring to the Office of Technology Assessment and you can find a lot of articles about its closure. It was widely seen as an extremely important source of source of scientific analysis on behalf of Congress. They worked for Congress, so they weren’t beholden to companies. It’s loss left made it very difficult for congressional representatives to fact check what they were told by lobbyists.
Another issue with Congressional budgeting that gets talked about by current and former members is how the vilification of pay raises for congress counterproductively ends up pushing them towards outside moneyed interest groups. The current congressional salary is $174k and has been since 2009 (i.e. no adjustments for inflation). However, congress members have to effectively pay for places to live both in their constituent district and in Washington DC in order for them to do their job. $174k a year will get you a decent place in DC, but once you add in the payments for a second home elsewhere, that salary doesn't go far enough to cover the bills.
The only ways for them to get by is to either already be rich or to take money from outside groups. The extra money doesn't help congress members that are already wealthy, so the lack of pay increases only hurts congress members representative of middle-class American wealth and ends up pushing them out of politics.
Did you know/remember that the Congressional Research Service has existed in the US Congress since 1913 Who does the same thing as Rand, The Brookings Institution and the Heritage Foundation?
They do not point out that accounting/finance should have been mandatory in high schools for girls and boys since Sputnik.
Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations has been free on the internet since 2001. He used the word 'education' Eighty Times. You can find multiple instances of "read, write and account" not arithmetic.
But Milton Friedman slapped us around with the "Invisible Hand" that Smith only used once.
I’ve always had the impression that Rand was a highly reputable organization, with really dedicated people, so I was surprised to see them mentioned so often. As you noted, they are typically funded by the government agencies so they aren’t beholden to corporate interests.
That’s worse and none of them are reputable
Why?
7:31 if I was ever in a debate and they pulled out a think tank data report I’m just gonna laugh at there face manically
I like to think that RUclips has its own collective of think tanks.... So what I've done on my channel is I've categorized a lot of RUclips content creators content into a complex playlist categorized in the eight wellness factors.
For now I put this one in education and skepticism under intellectual wellness, but I'm going to rename that specific playlist to knowledge and skepticism in the future, and make another separate playlist for schooling and education. I think I've got lots of work to do on this project.
Thank you for everything that you do!
I didn't know what a "Think Tank" was, so I kinda expected this video to be an explanation of how Tanks work.
Hey man congrats on crossing 1mm subs! Extremely well deserved; this is the best economics explainer cthannel on the internet.
0:25 "Government would grind to a halt without them." Sounds like all upside.
Think tanks get money from the military industrial complex. Which is why somehow defenseless countries with weaker weapons are threats.
Yah like the WMDs lie
"A person who thinks all the time has nothing to think about except thoughts. So he loses touch with reality, and lives in a world of illusion"
Is this why government is so incompetent?
This video reminds be about how The Coca Cola company paid online nutritionist influencers to tell their audiences that drinking Coca Cola was good and healthy, actually.
The penny only dropped recently when someone pointed out that "think tank" basically means "lobby group". Which it absolutely does.
Im not american. I just dont understand why to call it Think Thanks when it clearly is a consultancy job. More names for what? Just makes the topic unnecesarily complex imo
For everyone else this is call bribery and corruption, but in America it’s just call legal
CCP detected
@@Sonny_McMacssonbot detected
@@quanghuyvo6112 Dude, don't even try that crap.
@@Sonny_McMacsson lol you mad bro
@@quanghuyvo6112 Like a kung fu panda.
I am an mbb consultant. I would love to switch over to the think tank world
You are probably paid better than think tank employees.
@@aliannarodriguez1581 not per hour
I think this video is a great example of why so many people feel like their vote doesn't matter. If the person you vote for isn't actually being a politician and instead just outsource their job to unelected think tanks who are pushing the highest bidders agenda and that is their official "policy position" instead of whatever got them into office, its hard to feel like you're doing your civic duty when the one's you elected aren't either.
The competing think tanks for pharmaceuticals vs. junk food is a hilarious thought
I definitely see why policy makers need help understanding this horribly complex and messy world, but it sucks that the people who should be giving advice are instead acting as corporate agents.
Believing think tanks reports is like using tv commercials to chose your meals.
I think a way to meditate this and lobbying could be having experts directly hired by the government to advise politicians. That way there wouldn’t be a conflict of interests
Love 6:39 . If you want to get money out of politics, we should start with voting against the party whose appointed Supreme Court justices gave us Citizens United v. FEC.
Think tank is speculative science, they are to scientific research what sophists where to philosophers
calm the fuck down
What did I say? 😮
Would the historic think tanks be called thought tanks?
This title could either be HMW with an educational video essay or Dan Toomy trolling another parasitic industry. I'm here for both.
Alright alright. You got me. That battle is pretty funny. 😂
“If you woke up one day and found yourself elected to congress…”
Good god, I hope it’s more difficult than that.
You are doing great work keep it up.
The heritage foundation, Brookings, Rand corp,
I thought we elected representatives to be an extension of our judgment to make decisions on our behalf. I didn't vote for someone to just have someone else whisper all of the "solutions" into their ear.
The average person is just not knowledgeable enough on some issues to make intelligent decisions, not to mention some decisions require rather swift actions that leave little time for methodical debate and understanding.
And corporate lobbyists are always whispering in their ears too, don’t forget that.
Then vote for the most intelligent people into office
just the fancier arms length extension of the ministry of truth and mind education
7:11 E scooters actually will save lives, bust congestion, and help the environment! They have all the transportation benefits of bikes, plus they can fit in small apartments. No need to build any special storage.
The comment above brought to you by the Adam Smith Institute
Entertaining and informative video
Editor note. The background music is wayyyy toooo intrusive. I can't focus on what's being said. Please re-upload with the music turned down.
When the government budget cones up and people ask why the government is spending money researching things, this is why. So they could make an informed choice. Now people we an agenda are footing the bill and that's going as well as you think it would.
9:04 I never thought I would agree with fast food companies on anything 😅
00:00 🧠 Think tanks wield significant influence in shaping local, state, national, and global policies by employing experts to advocate their viewpoints to policymakers.
01:51 📊 Think tanks conduct research, produce studies, and offer expert advice to lawmakers, helping them make informed decisions on complex issues.
02:49 💰 Funding for think tanks primarily comes from industry donors, influencing policy decisions in favor of their interests, with over 800 think tanks operating in America.
05:50 💸 Think tanks receive significant funding from various sources, including foreign governments, to influence policy outcomes in favor of their donors.
06:46 🤝 Think tanks play a role in shaping legislation by producing reports aligned with the interests of their donors, influencing political debates and decision-making processes.
11:52 🏛 Think tanks have become integral in drafting legislation for politicians, who often lack the time, expertise, or resources to develop effective bills independently.
This video was a good balance of the good parts and bad parts of what think tanks do.
This was already covered in the video, but - ideally, think tanks would be motivated to check an balance each other. It would be the fact checkers checking other fact checkers. The problem is that only a few viewpoints are actually profitable in our current incentive system. Of course, the think tanks depend on the support of profit-makers, and there you go.
Still, not having think tanks at all would be even worse. It's an imperfect system, but hopefully we can find a way to improve the incentive structures so as to make it better.
I kind of resent picking on scooter think tanks when there are so many bigger, more evil examples.
I assume that Mr. Money Works is trying to avoid getting sued.
Man this is actually depressing.
the older I get the more disillusioned I get about "science" (or rather "science and politics").
The purpose of a think tank is to convince smart people simple things are complicated.
And here was me thinking the RAND Corporation was something to do with Ayn Rand.
corporatocracy moment 🎉🎉 🥳
Does the US government not have an independent statistics and research bureau?
It has many, but do you honestly think Americans would listen to government funded statistics?
Why was Rand Paul shown when talking about the Rand Institute?! He has nothing to do with them.
It's called a "joke" my dude
For some reason I read the title and was expecting Tanks like A1 Abrams or Leopard tanks or something. Lol, what was I thinking 😅. I'm on the wrong channel
same here, disappointed, with a serving of popcorn, at least some arguments like how Russia discovered tanks need infantry protection to be effective... thinking the blitzkrieg was a one off opportunity that could only work against the French with slow tanks... ah well, ...
Tachikomas.
That's the reason why Civil Servants with technical background and specialisation are crucial. Not some shady corpo funded group of unquestioned similar ideologists.
Think tanks exist across the board for anything significant enough people care about. It's why they're also called "special interest groups" sometimes. One can point to examples of bad corporate or influence, but there are plenty of influences counter to them both for good and for ill. I think it's kind of silly at 11:27 to say that without think takes, politicians would just ask individual experts how to run the government.
1. That will result in the exact same outcome. We should stop glorying false expertise as having the cure-all to government issues. A doctor might have a good idea how to cure an illness but zero idea of the logistics and costs of implementing a national healthcare system
2. The idea that policy in any way can be used to benefit or harm an industry or even your own personal finances will inherently give incentive to every single person affected by it. This results in interest groups when you realize a giant entity like the US government can make or break your livelihood. The only fix is diminishing the power of the government, and this happens less often.
In Dr. Stranglove it was referred to as the Bland Corporation 😅
From a government perspective, is there really a significant difference between think tanks and consultancies?
What a weird question. Everyone knows Think Tanks are the backbone of the Thought Military's armored division.
Not a chemist or farmer but why was the example in 1:18 meant to be an example of how difficult that job is? It was completely understandable.
Great content as always!
European think Tanks might juat work vwry diffently than in the US. For one, they're usually predominantly pubkic sector sponsored and employed a workforce that is on average under 35 years old
Was literally in one operating like this in The Netherlands, we don’t research unbiased but we are instructed with a certain outcome, I mean finding 😂
This is honestly very depressing. How can you possibly prevent this kind of lobbying problem? Because you need to delegate decision making to other people at all, then they can be bought.
Do you try to mitigate the impact of people being bought, perhaps by having a very large number of representatives so that it isn't cost-effective to buy votes? If so, how do you ensure the entrance of people into said representative positions remains fair, and how would YOU pay enough to each of these representatives to keep them onboard?
Do you try to anonymize the representatives so they can't be reached? But if so, remember that representatives are incentivized to partake in lobbying, so you would need to make it impossible to get any proof that they are indeed representatives (i.e. anyone can pretend to be a representative). And it only takes one opportunity for someone to prove that they're indeed a representative for that person to be compromised forever. Such a system seems only doable in a fully-online and anonymous situation but even then it drastically limits what interaction the representatives are able to have (pretty much only anonymous votes would be allowed) - no chance it will work for real governments.
Or do you simply avoid delegating decision making to anyone else? To me, this seems to imply totalitarianism or full reliance on sentient AI. It seems doable in the context of a small company or organization but not for a democratically elected government.
Finally, there are esoteric solutions such as 24/7 surveillance or mind-reading technology, so representatives can't be influenced even if they want to be... Given how bad the alternatives are, perhaps using future technology to have representatives monitored at all times (in exchange for being paid very well) is not as abhorrent as it first seems?
Where can I find information on companies lobbying the government? What is site?
Incorrect John Von Neumann coined M.A.D 10:23
Informative Video😬
I like how you put the Puerto Rico flag in 11:30 under the title "International Matters" even though Puerto Rico is a US Commonwealth or Territory so basically domestic matters. Maybe you ment the Cuban flag?
But hey as a pro-independence backer for Puerto Rico that is as close as I will get to see it see it. I'll take the W 🥲 loved the video nonetheless. Most of the think tanks you highlighted are also the same ones I see representing during many PragerU videos. 😂
Can you have a longer ad???
Good idea to change the thumbnail. Saved for later, btw they updated the watch later icon.
What the world needs is a "ground news" for think tanks and then have honest politicians use it.
1:29 you forgot to censor
@howmoneyworks You forgot to link the recommended books in the description.
Why is your debate at 7:30 between team scooter and team pedestrian? Both of them are being run over by cars, and the scooter riders are more likely to walk places as well. The only people who really hate them are in the car lobby because that's what they're directly competing with. There is no pedestrian lobby selling feet
The car lobby definitely has their own think tanks as well, but in SF and LA where I have seen these companies operate a lot of pedestrians are not happy with them either.
If MacGyver (1980s) taught me anything, they’re special law enforcement/humanitarian agencies on a non-profit model, or at least anything called the Phoenix Foundation is. :D
Wasn't expecting the Tom Nicholas shoutout.
@HowMoneyWorks, where can I find the source for your McDonalds vs. Novo Nordisk story? Thanks in advance!
Please do lobbyists next!
would you say this video is more unbiased or promoted?
Bro how you make such high quality videos
Thank you!
@@HowMoneyWorks You are Welcome
This is super depressing, but it would make a great Last Week Tonight episode.
"I trust the science."
The science in question: