Fed Official: Mistakes Were Made (No Kidding)

'It's not often that regulators -- or any public officials, for that matter -- acknowledge their mistakes. Unfortunately, when they do, the revelations usually come well after the fact, which is not much use to anyone. More importantly, those mea culpas often serve to make matters worse, because they end up justifying a dramatic response -- often a tightening of the screws -- that proves ill-timed, to say the least.'