A significant statement

Wasn't it not too long ago that Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke acknowledged the housing slowdown but failed to see a broad impact on economic growth?

Yesterday, he acknowledged the impact on economic growth but failed to see a slowdown in personal and business spending.

The further contraction in housing is likely to be a significant drag on growth in the current quarter and through early next year. However, it remains too early to assess the extent to which household and business spending will be affected by the weakness in housing and the tightening in credit conditions.

Doesn't that sound like he's a little behind the curve here?

In the process of stating the obvious and setting himself up for future criticism when consumer spending does slow significantly (at some point, it has to slow down, doesn't it?), the Fed Chief has uttered words that may linger for a while.

It was a near-perfect sequence of words that quickly and naturally found its way into headlines and opening paragraphs of news reports around the globe and may ultimately serve to reinforce the current downward trend rather than serve any other purpose.

Did Alan Greenspan every say anything like that?

Did he ever note that "the sharp reductions in share prices for technology companies are likely to be a significant drag on economic growth next year?"

And, no, a "significant drug" was not what was intended in the Google search above, though there is some irony in this as a suggested alternative.