I have noticed two points in common from the Bush administration's responses to 911 and New Orleans.

1) Failure of government entities to respond accurately and appropriately to real warning signs from people paid by the government to notice and alert authority to just such warning signs. In the case of 911 it was FBI and in the case of New Orleans it was FEMA. In both cases 'underlings' sent messages up the chain of command and the top level officials ignored them.

2) The government response in both cases after the disaster was to increase the bureaucracy, obscure the chain of failure, and spend huge amounts of money without increasing taxes. Therefore our children and our grandchildren are going to be paying this money back.

In the real world, when you borrow money you are ostensibly going to increase the value of something or the production of something, so you can pay the money back and hopefully increase your own income. What I see here is a total abandonment of this principle, which means our children and grandchildren will have to sell off some of their country in order to make the debt good. It will probably mean a greater overall proportion of Americans in poverty.

I think the causes and cures of social irresponsibility are arguable and have their roots in many administrations and because of many of our preconceived notions and wishes. But the fiscal irresponsibility of our elected leaders is on a scale that beggars the imagination.