News Links 12/28/2011

Newt Gingrich voiced enthusiasm for Mitt Romney’s Massachusetts health-care law when it was passed five years ago, the same plan he has been denouncing over the past few months as he campaigned for the Republican presidential nomination.

Noah Kravitz tweeted for Phonedog as @Phonedog_Noah, but later changed his username when he left the company – taking 17,000 followers with him. The company is now seeking damages

Japan’s industrial production fell in November, pulled down by a strong yen and weak global demand, and after flooding in Thailand damaged many suppliers.

Peter Wallison’s article again proves his extremism which is marked by his denial that a failure of regulation of reckless or imprudent practices in the private financial services industry played any significant role in the crisis, and his complete rejection of the regulatory reforms in the 2010 Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act.

India is more problematic. As the only economy in Asia with a current-account deficit, its external funding problems can hardly be taken lightly. Like China, India’s economic-growth momentum is ebbing. But unlike China, the downshift is more pronounced – GDP growth fell through the 7% threshold in the third calendar-year quarter of 2011, and annual industrial output actually fell by 5.1% in October. But the real problem is that, in contrast to China, Indian authorities have far less policy leeway.

The government can overspend by (a) taking too many goods and services out of the private sector, depriving the private sector of what it needs to satisfy the people, grow the economy and increase productivity or (b) increasing the supply of money in the economy so large that it drives up the prices of goods and services. As Wenzel points out, Murray Rothbard-one of the most important Austrian Economists the United States has produced-takes exactly the same position.

I’ve wondered often and aloud what it takes these days for an individual to be discredited. The answer seems to be that it is simply not possible. Being wrong – about anything and everything – no longer carries any consequences whatsoever. On many levels, it’s quite remarkable. As it relates to economics, stories about hyperinflation, sky-high interest rates, rampant government spending, expansionary austerity, an economic plan that will get the unemployment rate to 2.8%, etc., etc., have been making (or made) the rounds for the past few years. Yet the purveyors of these fictions lose no credibility and somehow maintain their status as experts, continuing to appear on business television shows and on op-ed pages nationwide.