Ben Bernanke
Ben Bernanke, Chairman of the Federal Reserve Board of Directors and our top prognosticator (whatever he missed: "nobody could have known"). We list only the top five as the material is just to vast for our tiny blog (and he hasn't retired yet!)
“The Federal Reserve is not currently forecasting a recession,” Jan2008 (the economy was already in recession)
"At this juncture, however, the impact on the broader economy and financial markets of the problems in the subprime market seems likely to be contained." March 2007
"Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are in 'no danger of failing.'..." July 2008 (we suppose it depends on the definition of failure)
"...the US banking system is 'well-capitalized'..." July 2008 (the well capitalized banks had to be rescued from impending bankruptcy by the US Treasury a couple of months later)
"U.S. house prices have risen by nearly 25 percent over the past two years, noted Bernanke, currently chairman of the president's Council of Economic Advisers, in testimony to Congress's Joint Economic Committee. But these increases, he said, "largely reflect strong economic fundamentals," such as strong growth in jobs, incomes and the number of new households."
Washington Post, October 2005 (many were already shorting housing related assets)
Charles O. "Chuck" Prince, III
Mr. Prince was CEO of Citicorp from 2003 to 2008. During his tenure he greatly expanded the balance sheet of the bank through acquisitions and much lending (see quote below). At the end of 2007 Citi's balance sheet was US$3Trillion of which $1T was off balance sheet (i.e. stuff they booked separately but were still responsible for). Also during his tenure, Citi stock went from US$500 to $200 (it bottomed at $10 shortly after he left it is trading at $27 today). The bank would have faced bankruptcy had it not been bailed out by the US Treasury headed by Tim Geithner, former president of the NY Fed, who supervised Citicorp's activities during Mr. Prince's tenure.
“As long as the music is playing, you’ve got to get up and dance,” he told The Financial Times on Monday, adding, “We’re still dancing.” July 10th, 2007
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