The 6 most illuminating quotes from the Fed’s pre-crisis meetings

In transcripts of the Federal Reserve’s meetings in 2007, we get a fascinating look at the degree to which financial regulators knew something was deeply amiss in the economy prior to the subprime crash and Great Recession that kicked off in 2008.  “The market is not operating in a normal way,” said Ben Bernanke, who noted elsewhere “I’d really refer to avoid giving any impression of a bailout or a put, if we can.” Looking at his words, and those of his colleagues shows that the Federal Reserve had an inkling that things were deeply amiss in the credit markets, and that something wicked this way was coming. They just didn’t realize how wicked, or how quickly it would come, or how long it would stay. For that, everybody paid dearly.