# Who will profit the most from the Katrina disaster? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 6, 2005, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-will-profit-the-most-from-the-katrina-disaster/320352 "2005-09-06T16:08:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2005, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-will-profit-the-most-from-the-katrina-disaster/320352/1 "2005-09-06T16:08:18Z")
Not necessarily in an unethical way, but what companies or industries are poised to reap the largest profit from the clean up and rebuilding in aftermath of Katrina? Home Depot? Building contractors? Halliburton? Is it unethical to take this into consideration when making investments in the stock market? ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2005, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-will-profit-the-most-from-the-katrina-disaster/320352/2 "2005-09-06T16:39:40Z")
I vote for “Oil Companies”. Then probably the construction industry, with an emphasis on lumber, masonry and engineering. So, for investments, Oil and Timber. Short the insurance industry and possibly auto industry, particularly companies that are profitting from gas guzzlers. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2005, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-will-profit-the-most-from-the-katrina-disaster/320352/3 "2005-09-06T16:44:09Z")
I thought about the oil companies, and certainly their income is up now on the price of oil, but they sustained some significant but as yet undermined hurricane losses that may negatively impact the bottom line. Some of those oil platforms cost a billion dollars to replace. ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2005, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-will-profit-the-most-from-the-katrina-disaster/320352/4 "2005-09-06T16:45:08Z")
**Halliburton** ---
**Author:** ![Governor\_Quinn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/d26b3c/32.png) [@Governor\_Quinn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Governor_Quinn)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2005, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-will-profit-the-most-from-the-katrina-disaster/320352/5 "2005-09-06T16:54:02Z")
It depends on how they rebuild, but it’s fairly safe to say that the raw-materials and the construction industries should both have some sort of boom. ---
**Author:** ![DMark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2005, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-will-profit-the-most-from-the-katrina-disaster/320352/6 "2005-09-06T17:05:54Z")
Harry Connick Jr. First of all, I don’t doubt his sincerity regarding his devastation in New Orleans. However, he was scheduled to perform in Las Vegas last weekend, at a teeny little casino on the outskirts of town, for a ticket price of $29.95. (To compare, even Vicki Lawrence and Mama were asking $39.95 at a teeny casino on the other side of town and Celine and Elton are getting about $200 per seat on The Strip. So instead of playing a little dive in Las Vegas, Harry was on The Today Show and leading the way on a nationwide tribute benefit concert. So it looks like this has been a good career move for Harry. Again, don’t doubt his sincerity, but I can see his manager huddled in the corner, re-calculating performance fees as we speak. ---
**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2005, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-will-profit-the-most-from-the-katrina-disaster/320352/7 "2005-09-06T19:30:55Z")
> [@Shirley Ujest](#): > > **Halliburton** [Wow, you must be, like, psychic or something!](http://thinkprogress.org/2005/09/06/allbaugh-halliburton/) ---
**Author:** ![ParentalAdvisory](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/53a042/32.png) [@ParentalAdvisory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParentalAdvisory)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2005, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-will-profit-the-most-from-the-katrina-disaster/320352/8 "2005-09-07T04:08:20Z")
I vote for insurance companies. Soon, they’ll start bitching about the cost Katrina, and they’ll claim to have to raise their rates nationwide. And in a couple of years, billions upon billions will have been collected in profits. Rinse and repeat for the next tragedy. ---
**Author:** ![GrizzRich](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/7ba0ec/32.png) [@GrizzRich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrizzRich)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2005, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-will-profit-the-most-from-the-katrina-disaster/320352/9 "2005-09-07T04:34:43Z")
Construction supplies industry. Especially the companies that make plywood. I understand that the cost of plywood had shot up to almost double in some places due to the devastion of the three hurricanes last year on top of the materials needed in Iraq for rebuilding efforts. I suspect the the cost of plywood is going to shoot up again.