Katrina could tip U.S. toward Recession (Star Trib)

[katty]

cont'd at:
http://www.startribune.com/stories/535/5590058.html

Katrina could tip U.S. toward recession
Mike Meyers, Star Tribune National Economics Correspondent
September 1, 2005 ECON0901
Page: 1 2

Hurricane Katrina could prove more than a natural disaster for the Gulf Coast. It has the potential to be a tipping point that heads the economy toward recession, economists say.

How worried should Minnesotans be about a storm 1,300 miles away?

"I think the right word is 'very,' " said Tom Stinson, Minnesota state economist.

Hurricanes hit the United States every year, but Katrina was different.

When it surged into New Orleans, it smashed the nation's most active port facilities, an economic choke point for everything from oil and gas to lumber and coffee trying to get in and out of the country. The severity of the devastation means that it could be weeks or months before any of those facilities are operating near normal.

"The personal losses suffered by the people in the area are just going to be unimaginable for us living in the Upper Midwest," Stinson said. "But the effects on the economy are going to be real."

[Der Blaue Engel]

1. Recession????

TRY DEPRESSION. WTF????????????

[driver8]

2. No shit...really??

How about telling us something we don't know!

Our government will help us all out, though...so rest easy.

[phantom power]

3. Rumors about dozens of offshore oil rigs completely demolished.

I'm not sure what has been confirmed yet, but they're talking years to restore those wells to production.

[phantom power]

4. we were already in a recession, although nobody was admitting it.

[struggle4progress]

5. So that's why they let this happen: they could blame the first four years

of economic misery on 9/11 and they needed a new jingle to sing during the next four years of economic catastrophe ...