Quote of the day

With the benefit of hindsight — and the importance of the word ‘hindsight’ should be emphasized — it is not hard to argue that the [Fed] was too slow to raise the federal funds target after taking the target down to 1% in 2003. Also with hindsight, the [Fed] was too slow to start raising the fed funds target in 1999 after dropping it by 75 basis points to deal with the turmoil created by Long-Term Capital Management.--William Poole, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis President

In other (related?) news:

Crude-oil futures have topped the inflation-adjusted high set in April 1980, as the dollar's descent continues to send investors into the commodities markets.

Gold for April delivery hit a record of $992 an ounce on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract was last up $15.20 at $990.20 an ounce.

Perhaps in 2013 or so, a Fed governor will look back at 2008 and say something similar to what Gov. Poole just did.