On CNN today, they pointed this out, but were quick to jump on the negative - saying basically we're all doomed.

Yeah, while this boom was nice (*I* noticed at least), methinks it's over for a little while. New Orleans and the surrounding areas simply affect too many sectors of the economy (POL products and shipping are gonna hurt bad). Eventually, the rebuilding will help spur the economy a bit, but by then the ripples may still be upsetting business nationwide.

Cheers,
Dave at Garfield Ridge

.
Not to rain on the parade (maybe that's not a good metaphor to use here), but:

Keep in mind Bastiat's Fallacy of the Broken Window:

http://www.econlib.org/library/Bastiat/basEss1.html

IOW, hurricane and flood damage is not a good thing.

Good economic news or no, Ace, a little Mallory today would go a long way towards bucking me up right now.

The despressed malcontents need some cheesecake.

I was going to mention what speedster mentioned. It's not good for the economy to have to rebuild something that took centuries to build up. It may spur activity in particular sectors, but entire businesses were wiped out. Lots of people lost a whole bunch of net worth, and regular insurance doesn't cover flood damage (as well, federal flood insurance is capped at $100k, I think).

So, no, it's not a good thing on the macro scale. If you're a construction guy, or a cleanup crew, it may be good for you, but that's about it.

What will it take for the US to finally start building some new refineries? $5 gas? Fine, go to Atlanta!

Seriously, what is the purpose of having a strategic oil reserve if you can't turn it into something useful? You can't just pour crude into a tank or ambulance. Of course, trying to establish a petroleum reserve at this point would just push up the price, but it is something that will have to be looked at in the future.

How about we take a big chunk of the land freed up by BRAC and, in the "long term" short term, if you see what I'm saying, turn it over to oil refining?

Bastiat's Fallacy may be more familiar to us lay fold as Zorg's lecture to Father Cornelius in Fifth Element.

I was talking to my landlord about this stuff, and he had a great idea - tribal lands.

An oil company should talk to a representative from a Native American tribe about putting a refinery on tribal land - offer them a sweetheart deal and move right in.

Since those lands are sovereign under US law, there'd be no issue with licensing, regulatory nonsense or anything like that. I mean, it should be done in an environmentally-friendly fashion, but it could be done faster on those lands than on lands owned by the US government.

Not bad, Slublog, and a lot more productive than casinos.

RE: Gas & oil prices.

The true good that will come out of this, in my opinion, is that we have a chance to finally stop this boutique gas bullshit. (Scroll down on this page for interesting discussion back on PBS in 2000 about oil & gas profiteering and boutique gasoline)

It will also expose all of the morons standing in the way of progess - mainly the NIMBY and ecowackos who have impeded construction of refineries and domestic drilling operations. I want them to begin screaming and yelling at the top of their lungs when the administration tries to clear the roadblocks. I think we should dub it the "Dean Effect."

Finally, there will be serious movement toward alternative fuel sources and automotive technologies. What a lot of people don't know about is the very short time span in which this could be done.

Silver linings abound.

Slublog -- Nice try, but it won't work. The law on tribal sovereignty is a complex and self-contradictory mess, but one principle that emerges is that the sovereignty extends only to internal matters. It would be easy for the tree huggers to find an activist federal judge to rule that refining is not purely internal because it affects the entire world via Gaia-harshing, etc.

Legalities aside, tough, I'm tickeld at the prospect of making making moonbats squirm by forcing them to choose between two sacred idols (trees and teepees). What whould the crying injun from the old Earth Day ads do? My prediction is that this is one of those many instances when the moonbats would have to deny any freedom of action for the noble-and-innocent-but-misinformed protected group, "for their own good."

Well, that sucks.

Nuclear power for everyone, then!

Just had another one in here....fucking moonbats will be the death of me!

She said it was Bush's fault for cutting funds to NOLA....then she said there would be a depression- when I pointed out that there's usually a little job boom because of the rebuilding- then she said that now the Bushies and corporate types will get rich.

Which is it, moonbat??
Both of course.

The only thing that gives me comfort is that this woman is a crabby, pushy, cheap complainer-type person that I never liked seeing come through the door.

Hopefully she won't be ruining any more of my days.

My co-workers are saying the National Guard should be here in the US instead of in Iraq and so it's ultimately Bush's fault.

*sigh*

Just had another one in here....fucking moonbats will be the death of me!

The irritating thing is, even when they know you're a righty, they assume the truth about <insert some issue here> is so obvious that even you have to agree on this one. I was on the phone to somebody last night who damn well knows my politics, and she starts in on the hurricane and Bush and I so didn't want to go there. I said, "I really don't think we want to talk about this." And she was like, "oh, you can't support Bush now?"

That happens to me a lot in the UK. They start friendly political discussions assuming I'm a lefty. I must be one, because I'm not crapping my pants and I strumming the banjo.

Well, I made it worse...I told her that I had a guy from Louisiana in here yesterday that told me about all the money that has been poured into fixing NOLA for years and years that has simply vanished into thin air...and she just stared at me with fucking hatred in her eyes.

They are barking mad and its getting worse.

My co-workers are saying the National Guard should be here in the US instead of in Iraq and so it's ultimately Bush's fault.

Slublog, you might want to point out to your co-workers that 40,000 NG troops are on their way - the largest NG disaster deployment in history.

Also, you might want to point out that that's 1/7th of the remaining NG troops available after subtracting those currently deployed in Iraq.

Or not. I work in blue state state gov't, so I know how likely facts are to bounce off your co-workers thick skulls.

I don't think facts are what the gripers are interested in. Just check out the NO Mayor. He's finally gotten the help he needs, and guess what? He's still whining!

But Mayor Ray Nagin issued an urgent statement indicating that a single convoy would not save the city. He warned that thousands of residents could die if remaining water supplies are cut off or contaminated, and that 50,000 residents were still on rooftops or shelters awaiting rescue.

“We’re holding on by a thread,” he said. “Time has run out.”

Well, if he'd had better control of his police force and a freaking plan, we might not have had to suspend rescue operations because the freaking helicopters were being shot at.

Someone get this guy a nice, tall glass of shut the f*** up.

The NOLA mayor is a proven incompetent.

Yes, we have to clean up after his planning/organizational nightmare, but we really shouldn't pay him anymore attention than a buzzing gnat.

He is "combat ineffective".

Methinks Nagin doth protest too much.

Ace, you missed the most important part - POVERTY IS UP.

That 30M or so illegal laiens might have something to do with that needs to be kept hush-hush though.

I simply cannot believe the gentle treatment that New Orlean's government leaders, almost all of whom skedaddled, are getting in the press.

Some of the light touch is deserved, because they are still dealing with this mess and it's hard to come down hard on someone who sounds as desperate as Nagin. But if there has been any MSM publication that has quoted anyone pontificating on just how badly the local government failed these people, then I haven't heard it.

Surely, we can't be the only people to have noticed that in every city and town across this fair land, the actions of the local governement have FAR more impact on almost any aspect of life than the Feds. We can't be the only people to remember the parts of New Orleans that resembled the Third World BEFORE Katrina. It's very bizarre for me to see reporters constantly fretting about what George Bush should have done while completely ignoring how poorly New Orleans has been run for decades.

The only way I'd like to see New Orleans rebuilt is if they fire every single politician, government worker and police officer, and let Bush decide who fills each position. Hey, they do want the Feds invoved, right?

I heard Shepard Smith a couple of hours ago talking about Nagin sending some of his friends currently lodged in a ritzy hotel over to the evacuation buses at the Superdome and getting them in front of the line of New Orleans refugees.

That can't be.

He was elected on a promise to end corruption.

Oh I'm quite sure he ended the OTHER guy's corruption.

That would have competed with his own....

Heh.

Anyone notice the lefties seem to go away at night? That's weird.

"Anyone notice the lefties seem to go away at night? That's weird."

I've noticed it to. What time does the dayroom close at the 'home'?

I don't know whether to laugh or get mad at this one.

Is consistency too much to ask? Have NYTimes writers even heard of Google?

I've noticed it to. What time does the dayroom close at the 'home'?

Either that, or they don't have the same internet connectivity at home as they do at the high school.