6:43 p.m. | Updated with link to Times article.
The Federal Reserve on Thursday released transcripts from meetings of its top policy committee in 2006. The release is part of the Fed’s standard procedure, in which full transcripts are made available five years after the fact.
The transcripts show that some of the nation’s pre-eminent economic policy makers did not take seriously the possibility that problems in the housing market would send the nation tumbling into a deep recession, Binyamin Appelbaum reports in The Times. Reading through the proceedings, he found some of the committee members’ comments particularly noteworthy, and sent out some highlights via posts on his Twitter feed:
Bernanke, Dec. 06: “Indications demand for housing may be stabilizing, but… there are probably still some downside risks in that sector. “
— Binyamin Appelbaum (@BCAppelbaum) January 12, 2012
Geithner, Dec. ’06: “We think the fundamentals of the expansion going forward still look good.”
— Binyamin Appelbaum (@BCAppelbaum) January 12, 2012
Warsh, Dec. ’06: “I consider the debt capital markets to be incredibly robust.”
— Binyamin Appelbaum (@BCAppelbaum) January 12, 2012
Warsh, Dec. ’06: “Although we do see growth of household debt relative to income… I don’t really note anything overly disturbing there. “
— Binyamin Appelbaum (@BCAppelbaum) January 12, 2012
Bies, Dec. ’06: “some of us are optimistic that we may be approaching a bottom in the housing market. “
— Binyamin Appelbaum (@BCAppelbaum) January 12, 2012
Stern, Oct. ’06: “The housing situation notwithstanding, I remain somewhat more optimistic about our prospects for real growth…”
— Binyamin Appelbaum (@BCAppelbaum) January 12, 2012
Article source: http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=970cb17067b127c949f01ce1909574fe