Now that the storm has passed, and we've started counting up our losses and wondering when we'll have power again, it's time to start assessing the damage of Hurricane Sandy. According to a company called Eqecat, which provides damage estimates to insurance companies, the toll could be anywhere from $10 billion to $20 billion, or even more.
There's also the question of what the impact could be on the larger economy. Obviously, there's been an immediate slowdown in economic activity, with the markets closed for two days. And the devastation will put the brakes on a lot of consumer spending for a while; for instance, no one in the tri-state area is going to be shopping for a new car in the next few days.
But there also might be something positive to come out of this, as far as the economy is concerned. You only need to look around to see all the repair and reconstruction that needs to be done. Some estimates show that the short-term hit to the economy is generally slightly outweighed by the long-term activity that goes into rebuilding everything. It would be nice if in the end we got at least a little something good out of all this mess.
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