Hurricane Irene; Forecast to do Little for GDP

Hurricane Irene has done immense damage to parts of the east coast. Clean up is estimated at upwards of $30 billion. Yet, this impact will be negligible on future GDP. This is because our economy is very large, about $15 trillion, and because spending resulting from Irene will occur over a period of about 2 or 3 years. And, an extra $10 or $15 billion in extra spending is only 0.1% of GDP.