The big question as Chairman Bernanke gets set for his first quarterly press conference is how Sarah Palin was able to figure out sooner than everyone else that the Federal Reserve's campaign of quantitative easing wouldn't work. Disappointment in the Fed's policies is being reported this morning at the top of page one of the New York Times. It reports that "most Americans are not feeling the difference" from the Fed's "experimental effort to spur a recovery by purchasing vast quantities of federal debt." It reports that "a broad range of economists say that the disappointing results show the limits of the central bank's ability to lift the nation from its economic malaise."

It's a terrific story, and well-timed, given that on Wednesday Mr. Bernanke will break tradition and meet with the press. It is part of the Fed's effort to get ahead of what is emerging as a public relations catastrophe, as gasoline is nearing six dollars a gallon at some pumps, the cost of groceries is skyrocketing, and the value of the dollars that Mr. Bernanke's institution issues as Federal Reserve notes has collapsed to less than a 1,500th of an ounce of gold. Unemployment is still high. Shakespeare couldn't come up with a better plot. But how in the world did Mrs. Palin, who is supposed to be so thick, manage to figure all this out so far ahead of the New York Times and all the economists it talked to?