Bruce Bartlett on the housing bubble debate

Bruce Bartlett gives an interesting timeline of the debate over the housing bubble. He ends with this thought:

There were many economists who did see it coming, but there were many others of equal or greater prominence and authority who repeatedly insisted that there was nothing to worry about. ...

Unfortunately, it is in the nature of economic and financial forecasting that being right too soon is insignificantly different from just being wrong. And forecasters that are wrong when most of their community is also wrong never suffer for it. The trick is to be right just a little bit sooner than everyone else—but only a little bit.