Juggling Dynamite

Bloomberg’s Hans Nichols looks at the scenario that could cause a tie in the Electoral College and how the presidential election would then be decided. Here is a direct link.

A discussion on the role of global warming in storms like Sandy with Paul Barrett of Bloomberg Businessweek, Bryan Walsh of Time Magazine, Steve Coll of the New Yorker and Charlie Rose. Here is a direct link.

New York City Comptroller John Liu says Hurricane Sandy will result in permanent economic losses of $100-$200 million a day in New York City. Here is a direct link.

A distinction of Hurricane Sandy when compared with other natural disasters, is that Sandy hit some of the most densely populated and expensive real estate in the world. As a result, economic damage is magnified and not felt by 3 or 5 million people, but by 60 million+. Only a portion of this damage will be recouped from insurance. The remaining costs will be absorbed by government, consumers and small business. Retail sales have been weak for months now, millions of individuals will now have less to spend on the economically important holiday shopping season over the next couple of months while they are rebuilding. Some of the demand lost will be recouped over coming months, but near-term for an already weak economy, lost revenue is clearly negative. In addition, some of the loss will be permanent and never recovered.