Foretelling the future

Journalists love a good scandal or crisis; it gives us something fun to write about. Yet, no matter how much is written on their origins after the event, it is rare that they signal themselves coming over the horizon at an early stage - I give you endowment sales for example. The present economic woes (page 20) are an exception, they were flagging their presence for a year or so before they hit. Bear Stearn's hedge funds going bust in the spring of 2007 was a major heads-up long before the general public became aware of any problems. Well, I see another on the way, and I'm not alone. Rich...