Hurricane Sandy Still Causing Damage

       If you guys don't already know, Hurricane Sandy was a storm in the United States last month that cause a huge uproar because of it's strength.  The main reason it was recognized was because it was the largest recorded Atlantic hurricane. It was estimated to have caused $30 billion dollars in damage and killed more than 200 people before it was over.

       You would think that a hurricane only leaves short term effects like the destruction of buildings, however even after Hurricane Sandy is long gone, people are still being affected in the United States. According to the Labour Department, after the hurricane hit initial claims for state unemployment benefits rose from 78,000 to roughly 439,000 within a week of the storm! This is the highest level of unemployment since April 2011 and the highest change in one week since 2005. Can you believe that? One storm left thousands without jobs! This could potentially hold back economic growth at a whole... Right now the economic growth in the United States is about 2%, but economists expect that the storm reduced it by half a percent. Saying it like this it doesn't seem like much of a change, "only half a percent?" but if you look at it as a whole, 0.5/2 is a decrease by 25%. , now that's a lot. With that being said, it is pretty obvious how this horrible storm is connected to international business. There is no doubt that with the slowdown in the United States’ economy many other countries will be affected as well. The whole world is interdependent on trade, there are rarely any countries rely 100% on themselves the world just can't work like that and every country needs to do trade. With this interdependence a domino effect will appear between partnering countries. When one country does well, their wealth will continue onto the countries that have ties to them; however the same applies when one economy does poorly. The United States has a lot of influence on Canada's economy since we are each other’s major trading partners. If the economy is slowing down in the United States, our economy will slow down as well. As Pierre Trudeau once said “Canada is like a mouse sleeping with an elephant. Everything is fine until the elephant twitches". This was referring to our relationship to the United States, if something bad happens in the United States, we're basically at a loss as well. Even though it may take a while to notice the effect on us, but after a while we should notice it. Despite saying this, economists also predict that this slowdown in the economy will be made up early next year if everything goes right. Overall, this has yet to turn into a huge problem but it is still something to consider when making any business plans any time soon. We should simply stay clear of any huge investments right now, and wait for the storm to pass. :)
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