The focus on events at Fukushima Daiichi belie the apparently woeful response to the crisis created by the companion natural disasters that have killed at least 10,000 and left up to a half a million homeless.

The White House is generally pretty pleased with what they’ve done, they don’t think they’re likely to get anything additional from Congress – which they’re right about, but that assumes that the executive branch has no authority of its own – and they’re going to just engage in happy, sunny, Reagan-esque optimistic talk and hope the economy comes back on its own. There are some things – like a new budget – that must be done, and there we shall see where talk meets action. But basically, the White House is done, and they’re quite happy with their efforts. If you want to be real charitable, they think it’s the best they can do.

The Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission report is sure to provide a powerful reinforcement to the growing lack of faith in elites and especially the financial industry. Because they will outline, in painstaking detail, how the financial meltdown of 2008 was completely avoidable – the result of policy failure at the highest levels of government and Wall Street, failures that bordered on criminal and that have never been fully adjudicated.

The supposed struggle between powerful know-it-all elitist critics and courageous corporate-sponsored common folk sure does sound familiar…