Sandy Damage-$150 to $250 Billion-Rick Ackerman
Greg Hunter’s USAWatchdog.com
Financial analyst and forecaster Rick Ackerman says Hurricane Sandy came at a time when “. . . the U.S. economy is in a mission critical status. . . . All of the positive effects of this spending are 8 to 20 months down the road.” Ackerman says this disaster is going to be different than in the past because “we’re living off the fatted calf, but the fact is now we’re broke. Where is all this money going to come from?” You can forget the current mainstream media estimates of $50 billion in storm damage. Ackerman says the real cost of Sandy “. . . is going way, way up into the $150 to $250 billion category.” Ackerman predicts the storm will have a national impact. He says, “There’s no question that what’s happened is going to cut into retail goods, especially high end gifts.” Join Greg Hunter as he goes One-on-One with Rick Ackerman of RickAckerman.com.
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About the Author
Greg Hunter
Greg is the producer and creator of USAWatchdog.com. The site’s slogan is “analyzing the news to give you a clear picture of what’s really going on.” The site will keep an eye on the government, your financial interests and cut through the media spin. USAWatchdog.com is neither Democrat nor Republican, Liberal or Conservative. Before creating and producing the site, Greg spent nearly 9 years as a network and investigative correspondent. He worked for ABC News and Good Morning America for nearly 6 years. Most recently, Greg worked for CNN for shows such as Paula Zahn Now, American Morning and various CNN business shows.
Katrina, massive tornado’s in Missouri & elsewhere, oil spill in the gulf, severe drought in the corn belt, electrical grid blackouts, Sandy and more, all within 7 years, what next? Fifty billion here, fifty billion there, all adds up, especially when you have to borrow to pay for it. Frankly, I don’t know what black swan awaits but the trend seems to be a large disasters of one kind or another about every year or so now instead of a decade between them in the past which allows recovery and a return to normal between major events. If the last 7 years or so has not convinced citizens that they have to prepare for these contingencies I don’t know what would. The average American household doesn’t have 5 gallons of drinking water in a safe place not to mention other necessities for a week or so. For those who think that government will always be there for them they better take note of the recent past.
Hello Art,
It is a never ending, self perpetuating form of stupidity of which there is no cure. On one side we have Mother Earth convulsing and on the other, man made financial ruin. Many do not have a clue.
Obama can spend that in one afternoon!
Greg: thanks for having Rick on; I follow all of his posts. A very objectively astute analyst. Re Sandy: at the end of the day the personal loss may be as great as Katrina with as many as 1 million permanently displaced. I would imagine that any increase to GDP due to rebuilding (broken window theory) will be totally offset by a new wave of entitlement spending (because we just have to help these folk, don’t we?).
The total insanity would be to allow rebuilding of any waterfront property as they allow in Gulf Shores, Alabama (and other coastal hurricane prone areas) seemingly every 5 years or so. In fact, every flood prone area should be designated non-inhabitable. Just my 2 cents.
Thank you Andy, Hector and Shawn for the comments.
Greg
Disasters are a net loss to society. Spending on things that were lost shows up as an uptick in GDP but that really only reflects weaknesses in using GDP to measure economic health. If I lose my laptop to a flood I have to replace it, but that money could have been used to buy something else or build savings. Now it just returns me to the status quo and I’m out my money. Mabye I’m misunderstanding Rick but seems he is falling for the broken window fallacy.
His early remarks show Bastiat’s broken window fallacy. It’s difficult for me to take seriously the economic advice of a man who falls for such an easy trap. Unfortunately, it seems this man has fallen for the sophistry of Keynesianism. I would ask him how he would measure the results of such spending? GDP? See Aldair MacLeod’s article “GDP is a False Statistic” to understand the fallacy there. Under the current paradigm it is possible (indeed, it’s been happening for decades) that economic metrics can continue to improve while the average standard of living of real people continue to decline. These metrics are not merely useless, they are misleading. Following such metrics is leading us to economic ruin. A corrupt financial system cannot generate meaningful money prices. This includes all metrics derived from these prices.
Mark. So well put. Hope you dont mind if i copy and paste.
jay2, I don’t mind. I do wish to emphasize that inflation is not the damage caused by money printing. Rather, expanding the money supply by money printing IS inflation. The damage the money printing causes is due to the distortion of relative prices. A good metaphor is the following: imagine you are setting out to drive across country. You have only a map and road signs to guide you. Now imagine how lost you would become if all the road signs were switched up and turned around. Likewise, it becomes impossible to allocate capital efficiently when prices are (1) unstable, and (2) do not reflect the underlying realities of resource scarcities and the subjective valuations of all market participants. The only way to generate stable prices that allow profits to be a reliable indicator for net value creation is for the central planners to get the hell out of the way and let an honest money system come into being, and quit playing favorites through legislation. Of course, since those in a position to make the necessary changes are benefiting from the existing paradigm, we cannot rationally expect any meaningful change to be forthcoming. The existing economy of the U.S. (and the entire world) has been built upon a distorted price system that flies in the face of reality. The net result is a futile attempt where everyone tries to have the cake and eat it too, and where continual and escalating hostilities emerge. We’re all running around like chickens with our heads chopped off because there are no road signs to guide us! Without realizing the fundamental cause of the problems, the powers that be and those who empower them will continue forcing currency into the system to stave off a total collapse. Unfortunately, they will find that the money supply must increase hyperbolically as the effects of malinvestments are cumulative. This process can only lead to war, hyperinflations, and general poverty.
how are you going to pay for this Obama and napolitano, print more money or wave your racist hand over the land and it magically rebuilds, you’re a fraud Obama and all your czars. you will be found guilty for your crimes Obama, Holder the Racist, Jarrett, and all you other racists in government. your day is coming very shortly, get out of dodge now while you still can, the posses are coming.
Bill,
I think the presses will be kicked into overdrive. Thank you for your comment and passion!
Greg
wow Greg, you allow such brazen ignorance (Bll) to go unchallenged and then to compliment his passion?
Forget civility or even grammar, its wreckless editorial unless you allow all the freaks into the circus. But you would immediately edit a different position of Bills… and apparently yours.
Now read Spiritual roots greg.
Pathetic buddy, you’re pandering to the fundamentalist and intellectually lazy. Sign of defeat, my friend. Why should anyone listen to your financial information when it’s apparent your inclination towards radical ideology is obvious.
Why have “conservatives” become so radical?
Disappointed Greg.
Mike,
How do you think the country is going to pay for this? You think we are going to raise taxes? I’m going with money printing. I wouldn’t “immediately edit a different position of Bills” Just like I wouldn’t edit your comment. By the way, New York’s top finance official, Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli said the same thing a few days ago when he said the federal government should pick up the entire tab for Sandy. His exact quote, “They have greater resources. They can print money; we can’t do that here.” The total cost of the storm will be much higher than the original estimates. As far as racial. The President has done a fine job of inserting the race card. A good example is his comments about the Trayvon Martin case. The President’s exact quote was, “If I Had a Son, He’d Look Like Trayvon Martin.” The inference is that white on black crime is a big problem in the country, when in fact 90% of the violent murders on black people are committed by black people. Same as white murder rates are overwhelmingly white on white according to the FBI. link: http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/crime-in-the-u.s/2010/crime-in-the-u.s.-2010/tables/10shrtbl06.xls Talk about racism, The President sat every Sunday and listened to Rev. Jeremiah Wright. If he’s not racist I don’t know what is. Here’s some of his preaching in action from ABC News:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hwQWuQVE6sw
I too am disappointed “buddy.” Thank you for your comment.
Greg
Greg. I think you are right about the cost of sandy. Theres a big difference between sandy and katrina. kat had a coution to land on sandy has a solid rock to hit with no chance of help. This is what we all are faced with in the near future. Money bail outs cant fix or even help when prices are inflated above the assistance given.Big differance.Big! Now we began to see what kinda help a broke country can do.
Thank you Jay2 for the comments.
Greg
Marriage wouldn’t be a issue for the government, if it didn’t have something to do with taxes and benefits.
Marriage is just another idea made up by people with ideas for others.
The word marriage should be wipe off any government legal paper are tax code. A citizen should not be given any rights are need a license to have relations with another citizen.
Greg, have read this? http://www.cfr.org/financial-crisis/dangerous-us-government-debt/p22408. Ran on this Jsmineset.com site, it has really took me by surprize to see this on his site! Jim seems to saying alot lately, how to take it one thing, to understand it is another, hope you can make heads or tails of it!
Thanks.
Thank you Mickey.
Greg
All the insurance money that will be paid out will cause commodity prices to increase, as the rebuilding will require a whole load of industrial commodities. That could be the ignition for all the ‘funny money’ that has been created to go into a proper inflationary spiral.
A cliff event baked into the cake. Just an observation from across the pond, in the UK.
My husband and I voted last week. I am a Dem and he is an independent. The only disaster that will exceed Sandy would be re-election of Obama. No one can tell us what Obama has done that is positive for the economy, including Obama.
Well said Greg, in regards to your rebuttal of Mike’s rather snide comment.
Looks like he was looking for a debate, but when you brought some clear-cut evidence to support all of your talking points, I’m guessing he decided to turn tail and run for it.
I’ve always viewed USAWatchdog as a rather objective news forum that focuses on one thing, the truth. And the truth, in this day-in-age, is following the money trail. Your site does a great job of reporting what the mainstream is either afraid to report, or perhaps is already bought and paid for by the very people who are at the top of this global ponzi scheme.
Thanks for what you do Greg.
Jason
Thank you Jason for your comment and support.
Greg