What We Read Today 25 February 2014

Econintersect: Every day our editors collect the most interesting things they find from around the internet and present a summary “reading list” which will include very brief summaries of why each item has gotten our attention. Suggestions from readers for “reading list” items are gratefully reviewed, although sometimes space limits the number included.

• Robert Welch’s 1974 Grim Predictions: One for Ten (Gary North, Specific Answers) Gary North has contributed to Global Economic Intersection. Conservative economist and political economy commentator Gary North revisits the predictions made by Robert Welch in 1974. Welch was the founder of the John Birch Society. North says that there are many attributions of the predictions to 1958, but he has been unable to find direct proof of that. North review the ten predictions made by Welch and finds that nine missed the mark, some by a moderate margin and some completely. North identifies only one prediction that hit the mark: “An increasingly unbalanced budget despite the higher taxes.” This is only partially correct (the higher taxes part is wrong) but North had already declared that the higher tax prediction missed.

• Yuan Drops Most Since 2012 on Speculation PBOC Wants Volatility (Fion Li, Bloomberg) The yuan is down against the US dollar for the sixth day in a row.

• Emerging Market Crisis Not Likely … (Larry Edelson, Money and Markets) Edelson says the current situation has no comparison to past emerging market breakdowns and therefor nothing like a crash should occur.

• Japan opens door to restart of nuclear programme (Jonathan Soble, Financial Times) According to the draft of a report released Tuesday (25 February 2014), the Abe government appears to be ready to reverse the abandonment of nuclear power, a decision made by the previous government in 2012 following the Fukushima nuclear plant disaster. The cost of importing fossil fuels is a serious headwind for the economy of the country.

Today there are 14 articles discussed ‘Behind the Wall’.

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