Fogged public discourse enabled discredited economists to be rehabilitated after the crash.

Evidence

The newspapers bayed for economists’ blood; and economists spat back all manner of excuses. With enough fog emitted, almost anything becomes possible. Glenn Hubbard, subjected to scathing ridicule in the movie Inside Job, could be rehabilitated as a major economic advisor to the Mitt Romney campaign in 2012. Gary Gorton, inventor of the CDS instruments that sank AIG, could be rehabilitated as one of the primary experts in the economics literature concerning the causes of the crisis. Ben Bernanke, booster of the Great Moderation, could be rehabilitated as the Savior of the American Economy. — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 942

Categorization

• SEED: The pattern ‘with enough fog, discredited experts get rehabilitated’ could anchor an essay on how institutional memory of failure is deliberately erased after crises.
• XREF: connects to: Mont Pèlerin economists helped manufacture ignorance after the 2008 crash — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin: The Making…, 31

Broader Connections

• Mont Pèlerin economists helped manufacture ignorance after the 2008 crash #corroborates (0.95) — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin, 31