Arguing the case in favour of hindsight

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lessons of the past could help avoid a speculative bubble developing in areas such as commodities, economists and market watchers argue

While we often curse hindsight, it is still arguably a useful facility, allowing us to examine the past and better understand and deal with similar situations in the future. In terms of financial markets, it makes speculative bubbles wonderfully transparent Although he made the comment some three years before things really got out of hand, in December 1996, then Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan was a lone voice in the wilderness warning frenzied investors the technology and internet boom was being fuelled by irrational exuberance rather than being based on solid foundations. Toda...