I'm writing a "What if" paper for my history class... And I want to discuss economic change that occurred due to 9/11. Specifically, what happened to the business that took place in the World Trade Centers? Is a there a dollar amount for all of the damage? Where would we be economically if 9/11 didn't happen?
Later in the paper I also plan on discussing the legal and political change (where they would be compared to how they are).
Thanks, this paper's worth a good portion of my grade... so I really need to do well. You need to CITE where you're getting the info, thanks again. I'm not going to douse myself over all of them, but I will tell you it was a devastation to the stock market. It was closed for several days. I had stock in DB (Deutsche Bank) at the time, which had their headquarters (WTC 4, which was basically destroyed by falling debris, and 130 Liberty Street across the street, which was damaged structurally with a 24 story gash and infested with mold) were destroyed resulting in the loss of thousands of documents and unsaved files on computers at the time, causing their stock to drop. Not to mention the other companies within the towers, even with off site hard drives, they still lost thousands of physical documents which had obvious repercussions.
The biggest damage probably went to Morgan Stanley (especially) , AON Insurance, Cantor Fitzgerald, and Marsh USA. And Deutsche Bank and Merrill Lynch for other buildings besides the complex, well of course DB had WTC 4, but it's small in scale compared to the former Deutsche Bank Building (130 Liberty Street). Ehh. I'm honestly not quite sure what you're looking for. So, I'll just spew out some random things.
Our relations with middle-eastern countries were affected, and therefore, our ability and use of oil was altered. This point reaches not only past the initial purchase of the oil, but affects cost of operation of vehicles and other gas-guzzling machinery, factories, and the development, manufacture, and carry-through of various goods and services, not only here in the United States, but world wide.
Businesses that were previously stationed in and around the World Trade Centers were most likely forced to move their wares and / or service headquarters elsewhere. Granted, some were able to stay -- however, it's rather difficult to hold up shop in an area that's filled with such amazing amounts of drama, tension, etc.
I don't think a strict dollar amount can really be established. Sure, you can count up all of the goods. But, when you think about it, it's difficult to estimate an exact. After all, even once you get the basics figured out, you've still got the amounts of cash, cost of clothing; some of those there were wealthy and wore very expensive clothing, jewelry, office belongings that were personal, etc. It may seem that such things aren't actually significant, but really, they can add up. [[I once completed a project on accuracy of damage costs for natural disasters.]] And furthermore, what about the lives lost? You can't put a price on your family's lives, especially not once they're gone.
Where would we be economally if 9/11 didn't happen? Honestly, I think it's hard to tell. First off, we wouldn't have the drama. That isn't directly economic, but it does represent many dollars spent on therapy for those that lost loved ones, and even those that were simply afraid of repurcussions. Second, I think that National Security wouldn't be quite as tense as it is today, which of course would mean we would've spent quite a bit less on security forces.
The greatest monetary damage overall is most likely the funds spent on the troops in Iraq. After all, we've not only lost a lot of supplies, but lives, as well. Even if you ignore the value of the lives themselves, there's also the money that those lost would've made through their careers, during the span of a lifetime. And of course we sound countless numbers of tons of supplies to the area, simply to sustain our troops.
Some feel that money lost because of 9/11 isn't too much of an impacting event, for us. But really, it is.
One thing that strikes me as interesting, is that in 1994, between 800,000 and 1.1 million lives were lost in the genocidal actions of the Hutu vs. Tutsi debate in Rwanda. The U.S. was one of their best chances at putting a stop to the issues -- we had the resources to save lives. After the events of Rwanda were finally over, many Americans expressed regret that they didn't stand up to others, in hopes of getting help to Rwanda.
So, you'd think we'd have learned our lesson, right?
Wrong.
Right now, a very similar thing is happening in Darfur. Are we doing anything about it? No. Should we? Maybe. Can we? Nope, because we've spent all of our funds on "helping" Iraq.
I'm not saying that our presence in Iraq didn't begin with good intentions. But really, there are other places that our troops might be more successful, when it comes to actually helping and protecting people -- such as, but not limited to, Darfur. Personally, I think that if we hadn't wasted so many of our resources on our trials of "help" in Iraq, we would've been able to do soo much more in other areas, that actually NEED it.
Legally / politically, you've got the national security changes. New laws have been imposed not only for air travel, but travel over land and water, as well. In addition, there are laws in regards to the future use of the World Trade Center land and remaining building structure.
There's also the presidential election to consider. Here in Hell / Iowa, i've seen an unlimited number of advertisements discussing whether certain candidates would be able to prevent future terrorist attacks. When it all comes down to it, I think this may have a huge impact on the outcome in regards to our future president, what potential presidents are stressing in regards to political importance, and how power is used. this is partial information from a report called: The Economic Effects of 9/11: A Retrospective Assessment September 27, 2002
Gail Makinen, Coordinator Specialist in Economic Policy
Government and Finance Division
The attacks on the twin towers threatened the heart of the U.S. financial system. Their destruction devastated the leading dealer in U.S. Treasury securities, the loss of whose staff accounted for almost one quarter of those killed in New York City.
The debris from the collapsing towers and the general chaos in the area brought about the closing of the New York Stock Exchange, the major stock exchange in the United States, as well as closing brokerage houses and banks in the Wall Street area. The grounding of all air planes severely hampered the clearing of checks and the distribution of paper currency, creating great uncertainty for financial institutions. Timely action by the Federal Reserve, the City and State of New York, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and individuals in the financial sector resulted in the quick return to business by the stock and commodity exchanges in the affected area. This not only ensured the timely return to normal operations by the financial system, but was also a major boost to confidence. .
There is a ton of other data, all good. :P I read through some and plan on reading the rest. |
