Accessibility links

Breaking News
News

Terror Cost US More than $600 Billion - 2002-01-29


A new study shows the September 11 terrorist attacks on the United States will cost the nation more than $600 billion.

The most significant loss suffered by the United States as a result of the September 11 terrorist attacks is measured in human lives.

But a study commissioned by the New York Senate's Republican majority assesses the attack's impact on the nation economically. The report estimates nationwide losses of more than $200 billion in company profits, rental income, and interest.

The bulk of the loss is in personal income. According to Tom Bergin of the Senate Finance Committee, the numbers are staggering. "We are looking at an economic shortfall across the nation of $639 billion, and that includes lost personal income, which makes up about $424 billion of that," he said.

While the study shows the attack affected every part of the country and most industries, New York City was particularly hard-hit. It lost about $15 billion in personal income.

It also lost 70,000 jobs in the fourth quarter of 2001 as a direct result of the attack. And, according to Allen Gutheim, who directed the study for a private research group, the city is not necessarily on the brink of a comeback. "A lot of the firms that have moved elsewhere probably will not move back to that area, even as a lot of that real estate that was damaged is restored," he said.

Two of the biggest investment firms in the city, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, have announced they plan to move almost 5,000 employees out of the city.

XS
SM
MD
LG