Matt Stoller - The Federal Reserve Knew About the Housing Bubble in 2004
January 19, 2012 The data — both anecdotal and otherwise — was out there, and the Fed even discussed it internally. Let’s not let it off the hook.
I noticed something odd about the recent release of the 2006 Federal Reserve Open Market Committee transcripts. Binyamin Appelbaum has a characteristically good article about the inept chatter at the FOMC meetings that year, where the various participants missed the housing bubble completely. And there has been suitable mockery of the Fed.
What I’m finding, though, is a bit of an apologia for these folks in the form of “no one knew.” This is just not true. I remember in 2002-2003 I heard crazy stories about housing, where people would list their home and get 15 bids in 24 hours. It’s why I didn’t consider buying a home. It wasn’t just anecdotal, but the data was out there.
Read More:
http://www.newdeal20.org/2012/01/17/the-federal-reserve-knew-about-the-housing-bubble-in-2004-69345/
