What is this going to do to the already shaky economy. I mean if 50,000 people worked in the towers, that is 50,000 people out of work. Not to mention the insurance companies that will go bankrupt or up rates to cover the disaster. Then what about the business that won’t relocate back into NYC?
“Not to mention the insurance companies that will go bankrupt or up rates to cover the disaster.”
The WTC is/was owned by the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey, which like most government authorities is probably self-insured.
“Then what about the business that won’t relocate back into NYC?”
I don’t think the last WTC bombing drove business away from NYC. Why would this act, despicable as it was, cause companies to leave New York? Many of the firms that were in the WTC were financial companies that have to be in New York because of the Stock Exchange, etcetera. And it’s not as if a terrorist act can’t happen somewhere else, or indeed anywhere else – Oklahoma City isn’t exactly the business or political center of the nation, but it was the victim of terrorism.
Yeah, a company like Morgan Stanley, which occupied 21 floors of one of the towers, is not going to move out of New York City. I don’t know where they’ll move to for the time being, but they’re not packing up camp and heading out.
As for the smaller economic effects, it cost me pretty much any money I’d have made today, which was rather annoying. Tomorrow should be back to normal here in Boston, I’d expect.
What ABC News says:
http://www.abcnews.com/sections/business/DailyNews/WTC_crash_financial_010911.html
I just heard on CNN the airlines expect to lose up to half their business in drop offs and new regulations between now and Christmas.
As for insurance, what about the money for life insurance, medical insurance, the other buildings damaged.
There must be fire damage or smoke damage to those buildings.
Were the CEOs of those companies and other big shots in there. If they die who will replace them?
Not to be so cold but it is easy to find a secretary how do you find a CEO or other big wig?
In Chicago I live in a small neighborhood and we have cops EVERWHERE. In a 3 block walk from the subway to my house I saw FIVE squad cars. I see cops all over. Who is paying for this overtime?
The military is on alert all over the place. That is more cost.
This is what I meant, the incidental stuff more than the actual replacement cost of the buildings.
What you’re questioning, Markxxx, is the company’s disaster recovery plan. Most company’s have one; some are more detailed than others. If you’ll read a company’s financial filings, they usually discuss things like the officer’s age and health, succession planning, and so on.
I know in Morgan Stanley’s case that they have large offices around the country (there’s a pretty big site just outside of Philly, for example). While some information was probably destroyed, MS is more than likely to have redundant record storage, which will allow them to recreate or replace missing documents and/or electronic files.
Replacing the human resources, of course, is much more difficult. While a company should never be completely dependant on the talents of a very small group of people, the loss of key employees will be felt. It’ll be up to the company to begin the hiring and retraining of the replacements as soon as possible. The events are tragic, but to allow them to destroy the company would be allowing the terrorists to win.
Hiring a CEO is a very difficult task; searches can and have taken a year or more for some Fortune 50 companies. In the interim, someone from within the company will be promoted as temporary president. S/he will follow the business plan that was developed before the disaster. It shouldn’t be a secret to him/her; s/he probably was involved in it’s development.
Like hundreds of millions around the world I was very shaken by this disaster. I was surprised how rattled and disturbed I was yesterday as I tried to continue working at my job. My thoughts this morning are that we must minimize the effects. I try not to think about the HUNDREDS of police and firefighters killed, never mind the thousands of ordinary working people. In the days ahead, the police, the military, the government, the health care workers, are all going to work extraordinarily hard directly on this disaster. the rest of us have a certain obligation to do our bit by working to restore normal conditions. If this triggers a depression or economic collapse it will only increase the satisfaction of those behind the attack. I hope that this results in a strenghtening of the western economy as all individual citizens recover from the shock and go forward with their normal lives with a new seriousness and a stronger resolve. In fact, I think this is what will happen. There is no reason why this should have much more than a small brief ripple effect through the huge global megolith that is our capitalist economy. I am very cynical at all times about the babbling in the press, and anything I am reading today about economic effects I dismiss as stupid idle speculation and negative thinking.
In my opinion as a businessman, there need not be any serious large scale economic consequences. To allow this to have major eceonomic consequences plays into the hands of those who did this, and we must all do our tiny little bits to ensure that everything gets back to normal as soon as possible.
i think the greatest economic burden will be on the U.S. government. they have no way to finance a military operation, thanks to bush’s recent tax cuts. i said from the beginning those cuts would come back to bite him in the ass. not only will it be hard to fund the cleanup and rebuilding of the pentagon, as well as the overtime for all the cops and military on full alert, but they will have no money left for retalliation, which bush already seems to confirm will take place. the rest of the economy will suffer for a period i’m sure, but it will bounce back if the panic isn’t taken too seriously.