NPR presented an account of the growing economic crisis over the last year on Morning Edition. The account was presented entirely from a "who could have known" perspective that focused almost exclusively on the major financial crisis of the year. Of course the downturn was entirely predictable based on the collapse of the housing bubble, even if the timing and the specific financial crises were not. The real economic story of 2008 was that almost the entire economic and political establishment were caught by surprise by events that should have been widely expected. If economists were held accountable in their job performance in the same way as administrative assistants or dishwashers, they would be fired.
--Dean Baker
