In August 2007, few market participants, even those with access to mountains of information and a broad range of expert opinions, had a real clue as to what was going on. Certainly the US Congress was clueless; its members were still busy lobbying for the government-backed housing-mortgage agencies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, thereby digging the hole deeper.
并不只是美联储未能注意到即将来临的经济危机。2007年8月，很少市场参与者——即使是那些有能力获取大量信息和广泛专家意见的参与者——能看出些蛛丝马迹。美国国会肯定是一无所知的；其成员仍然忙于为政府支持的住房抵押贷款机构——房利美和房地美——四处游说，从而把危机推向更深处。