Bloomberg is running some headlines from the transcripts from the Oct. 2007 FOMC minutes. Here are some of the gems.
- There are no evident spillovers from housing
- ‘Inflation is a concern’
- Mentioned a ‘general freeze-up’ in markets in Aug 2007 meeting
I don’t think I need to recap what happened in the following months. People in the bond market knew something very bad was happening beginning in August or earlier.
Also, there is an interesting comment on the WSJ’s Greg Ip, who was the Jon Hilsenrath of the time.
Bernanke said: “the way Greg Ip works is that he goes around and talks to each person and gets a little of the story and then builds it”
People thought then (and now) that the Fed was leaking signals to the WSJ but then (and now) it’s just conjecture.
