Postdictive error

Using data after the fact to review decisions before the fact is a very critical mistake . . . . so when someone says that "we could have survived if . . . . " they are usually making this mistake. Today, this came out :

April 3 (Bloomberg) -- Bear Stearns Chief Executive Officer Alan Schwartz said the fifth-largest U.S. securities firm might have survived if the Federal Reserve had acted earlier to lend money directly to investment banks.

Since we can never know, it's totally ridiculous that a major media outlet would even give this type of thinking credibility by printing it. This is like me saying, I might not have been hurt walking down the street if the ball hadn't rolled in front of me . . . duh.