An Economics Lesson about Hurricanes (a bit of a rant)

trickynick said: "What economics class did these morons take who are claiming that Hurricane Katrina will have been "helpful" in the long run? Yes, I understand that sales of lumber and other building materials will increase. And I agree that many jobs will have been created and a lot of money will have been spent in the process of cleanup and reconstruction. But what about the expenditures forgone so that the cleanup and reconstruction expenditures can be made? Are the people who are spending all this money to recover from the disaster going to spend just as much as ever on everything else? Does anybody actually imagine that the incomes in the form of wages and profits from the new jobs created as results of this are going to be sufficient to replace the incomes that will have been lost as result of a major urban area being, for all intents and purposes, unoperational for weeks? What about the incomes in the form of rent lost as result of the destuction of assets? Government aid will only be significant if all the money used for this purpose was borrowed. Otherwise, it is only a redistribution of that which citizens have paid in taxes (minus of course the difference when adjusted for the MPC multiplier). Bottom line, economic activity resulting from Hurricane Katrina which some analysts have pseudo-scientifically purported to be a "long run benefit" are only a change in expenditure composition, not a change in expenditures on the whole. Also, if this is so friggin great for everybody "in the long run" then why did we wait for the hurricane to bust the levees? We should have blown them apart and flooded the city back in 2001, that would have stopped the recession dead in its tracks. :D Retards! Phhhhpppt!"

HappyHarry said: "I think the insurance companies are definitely not considering this to be a benefit. They're estimating the costs at over $20 billion!"

chahinemm said: "which will cause there share prices to drop and therefore good entry opportunities. chahine"

alhamid said: "re-insurance companies keep vast amounts of capital on hand for situations just like this"

xAnDienx said: "what kinds of stocks would hurricanes help? Also, would the hurricane have presented an opportunity for real estate investing?"

xAnDienx said: "haha I did find your sticky six and I commend you on them, and on your humor regarding the white man vs. black man scenario. Thanks!"

IntelligentInvestor said: "So Lance J, the Sticky Six is basically your current portfolio???"