On Oct 25, 6:24 am, "Ed Huntress" wrote:

Because, despite all that work, nothing is produced. It's just a
redistribution of the income from real production elsewhere in the economy.
An economist would point out that aside from the fact that it's just
redistribution, that all of the activity actually is a net loss to the
economy, diverting manpower and other resources into a nonproductive
activity.

It's very much like the "economic activity" that goes into production for
war. There are at least benefits in the case of war, assuming the war was
worth fighting in the first place.

However, there is nowhere enough of it going on in this fire to precipitate
a recession. It's just a little bit more lead weight on an economy that's
already taking a pasting from production for the war in Iraq.

--
Ed Huntress

Hmmm, I am under the impression that the spending for WWII was the
stimulus that really brought us out of the depression.

And it is not exactly nonproductive activity. There will be an
increase in demand for building materials which will create jobs.

I am not advocating creating wars or forest fires to stimulate the
economy, but just noting that they will stimulate the economy, not
create a recession.


Dan