By John Galt
August 24, 2011 – 22:30 ET
Sorry to sound cruel to those who have endured or those about to be engulfed by this monster storm, but the question has to be asked. The storms of 2004-2005 were thought to be a major contributing factor to the ultimate decline and fall of the U.S. economy in 2007 as Federal government spending and waste went into overdrive after the 2004 Florida hurricane blitz with government stimulus to help our state recover then in 2005 with the post-Katrina and Rita recovery efforts. Since it is now apparent that these efforts have failed in hindsight, the question hast to be asked:
What if a major hurricane hits the Eastern seaboard, striking several major cities, causing an already weak economy to come to a careening halt?
Some of the most reliable forecast models are predicting either a strong Category 1 or Category 2+ impacting that region:
(HWRF model from Florida State University)
At 100 mph with a long building storm surge, the damage from this impact if this model even remotely comes true would be incredible. But the frame afterwards is even more frightening:
I shudder to think that this could happen but with the panic, the idiocy of New Yorkers, and the financial impact on the region, I fear this might actually cause the economy to ultimately fulfill my prediction of a September recession beginning. The impact on a direct hit on New York City on the insurance industry is unimaginable and when you add in the damage to the other states in the region, you are talking about impacts on possibly over 50 million people.
This could be Obama’s Katrina.
Stay tuned as this storm is a monster.
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