Looks like the President is thinking ahead to how the history books will view the BP Spill event: Obama: Gulf spill ‘echoes 9/11’, Politico, June 13.

President Barack Obama told POLITICO columnist Roger Simon that the Gulf disaster “echoes 9/11” because it will change the nation’s psyche for years to come.

Another excellent article on risk and some of the global ramifications of the faulty risk assessment done by BP; Wash Post, June 13.

How BP Flunked its Risk Tests, Wash Post, June 13. Some key quotes:

…whether it’s BP or financial firms, you get the best and the brightest, the smartest and the most highly compensated people in these positions in the private sector. The folks left to do the regulation and the oversight are poorly paid, not as up-to-speed, and the most talented can’t be kept there. And they often get run circles around, despite the fact that they are the guys who are supposed to understand externalities and look after the public weal.

I think for the United States, the BP spill is a really big deal. For Europe, except for BP in London, the much bigger deal is the realistic potential failure of the most important, and heretofore successful, experiment of the free market system ever. If you’re China, if you’re Russia, you’re looking at that.