That Sinking Feeling

One of the features of recent elections here and there is that in the hurly burly of debate and conflict it is amazing what is not discussed or raised because the subjects will be inconvenient.  Also, they are not attention grabbers in the way politicians want to be seen caring about.

The visitation of Hurricane Sandy left a lot of water behind and it is still not clear what the full extent of the damage may be.  Pundits and experts are busy suggesting figures in the billions.  The candidates, understandably, have steered clear of this one.

But those who have come up with figures are concentrating on what seems to be the observable physical damage at present.  There are a lot of other forms of damage that might be added to the calculations.

The current candidate for the biggest figure comes from the question arising from a security vault in New York.  This houses the basic legal documents and evidence for the trading of lots of money and “investments”.

The vault was designed to be thief and terrorist proof.  But it is not yet clear whether it was water proof.  If not then the entitlement to and ownership of vast amounts of assets could have been reduced to unreadable pulp.

The link in The Automatic Earth below tells us what could be involved:

http://theautomaticearth.com/Finance/did-hurricane-sandy-cause-365-trillion-in-damage.html

In the meantime there are said to be 40,000 people to be rehoused in a hurry before the Nor’ Easter forecast brings ice and snow, insurance companies checking their ability to pay and Thanksgiving and Christmas are coming.

In the bleak mid winter, frosty winds made moan……………..