It's probably more accurate to state that those economists who make policy didn't see it coming... the economists that matter.

http://www.forbes.com/2007/05/17/bernanke-subprime-speech-ma...

Of course, the economy nearly collapsed a year after that speech.

That's the great conceit of central banking, that a small committee of "learned professionals" can predict the future and claim to divine the actions of billions of market transactions.