by Calculated Risk on 11/02/2006 12:48:00 PM

Dallas Fed President Richard W. Fisher spoke today in New York: Confessions of a Data Dependent

In retrospect, [in 2002 and 2003] the real fed funds rate turned out to be lower than what was deemed appropriate at the time and was held lower longer that it should have been. In this case, poor data led to a policy action that amplified speculative activity in the housing and other markets. Today, as anybody not from the former planet of Pluto knows, the housing market is undergoing a substantial correction and inflicting real costs to millions of homeowners across the country. It is complicating the task of achieving our monetary objective of creating the conditions for sustainable non-inflationary growth.