It is estimated that Hurricane Sandy caused up to $50 billion in damage.
Since the federal and other aid is not likely to be offset with expenditure reductions elsewhere, reconstruction will act the same as a $50 billion stimulus bill for the North East coastline states.
Taking into consideration the ‘multiplier effect’ (people use their reconstruction pay checks to purchase goods and services that support still more jobs), the impact will be from $100 billion to $150,000 billion of extra economic activity.
All of this should speed recovery in the lagging North East. So would have the Obama Administrations jobs bills had they not been defeated in the Republican controlled House of Representatives.
Too bad we had to wait for nature to spur recovery from the Great Recession. Lord Keynes may be smiling from above.
