Economic Ramifications of Katrina

1. National debt will go up and the movement toward lowering taxes will be confounded.
2. Unemployment will go up.
3. The Fed may stop raising interest rates. At least they should.
   
4. Online retail sites will be affected. People who once used the internet to shop and book travel will not have computers for some time. I read today that companies like Amazon have many orders ready to ship to the affected area and, of course, the addresses on the orders no longer exist. Credit card companies will have to unwind a lot of charges.
5. Companies like Home Depot will benefit. So will home builders and road builders and companies which sell heavy equipment, like Caterpillar, will do well.
6. Gulf shipping and much of the economic benefit will shift to the Florida panhandle (think Panama City) since it has the only other deep water port available. Wish I owned real estate around there.

Everyone is predicting widespread health problems could arise among those displaced and affected by the environmental exposure they endured. The nature and extent of that could well affect the drug companies, vaccine producers, hospitals, etc. Must keep an eye out for investment opportunities in that regard.