It is said by some that when a problem becomes front page news in the NY Times, then it has reached the awareness of the collective American public.
http://www.nytimes.com/
Dec 18th front page (online)
Fed Shrugged as Subprime Crisis Spread
By EDMUND L. ANDREWS
As the mortgage crisis threatens to tip the economy into a recession, many are asking: Where was Washington?
...
Edward M. Gramlich, a Federal Reserve governor who died in September, warned nearly seven years ago that a fast-growing new breed of lenders was luring many people into risky mortgages they could not afford.
...
In 2001, a senior Treasury official, Sheila C. Bair, tried to persuade subprime lenders to adopt a code of “best practices” and to let outside monitors verify their compliance.
...
John C. Gamboa and Robert L. Gnaizda of the Greenlining Institute implored Mr. Greenspan to use his bully pulpit and press for a voluntary code of conduct.
...
These folks are to the subprime mess what FBI SA John O'Neil, aka
The Man Who Knew, was to 9/11--people to whom we ought to have listened.
