The house had burned down by the time Paulson and Bernanke shouted “fire.” No pun intended.

Since the storm analogy is so popular these days, let’s continue. When Katrina hit Louisiana and Mississippi, the immediate responsibility fell on the local, city and state officials. And they were remarkably inept. But the buck stops with the Feds (in this case, the White House administration) when the regional fails and the feds were almost criminally negligent. So too with this economic crisis. There were some villians, lots of bad guys, many buffoons, a bunch of wannabes, a couple flawed heroes and alas no true heroes. So, many were inept in setting the scene. But the House could have salvaged the confidence necessary to reinstate trust in the credit markets (credit from the Latin credere meaning trust). Instead, they were cravenly negligent when called to task. Throw all the bums out, I say.