Political Quotes

“I have taken the floor to briefly speak on the behavior of the Federal Reserve Board. Back in ancient Roman days, there was a practice called ``augury,'' in which the Romans would call on wise men who had wide experience to predict the future by observing the flight of birds and evaluating the entrails of cattle. These Roman priests, or augurs, gave advice to the folks who were in charge at the time. Of course, now we do not have augurs, and our advisers do not practice augury, and they do not read the entrails of cattle. For better or for worse, we have economists instead. Economists do our prognostication for us today. They call it a science. There is some question as to whether economics is truly a science. One economist for whom I have great affection has predicted nine of the last two recessions. And he is an economist whom I hold in very high regard. In 1990, on the eve of the most recent recession in our country, 40 of our leading economists made their predictions about the coming year. Thirty-five predicted that in the next 12 months there would be steady growth--35 of 40--and, in fact, in the next 12 months we entered into a recession. Using all of that as an introduction, let me tell you that I was dumbstruck last week by the decision by the Federal Reserve Board to increase interest rates.”