WSJ: As Slick Grows Bigger, So Do Economic Fears

[marmar]

As Slick Grows Bigger, So Do Economic Fears
By JUSTIN LAHART And DANA MATTIOLI


The oil spill's impact is threatening to widen well beyond the Gulf region's key industries.

Tourism, fishing, shipping and drilling form the backbone of the local economy, said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Economy.com. "Each passing day, the risks that it affects those industries increases. If they're impaired, the region's economy will be hurt significantly."

And the direct effect of the disaster on those industries will be magnified by their broad reach in local economies that were hit hard by the recession. For example, Economy.com estimates that every job in the oil-and-gas industry supports eight jobs elsewhere in the region. So even though the industry directly employs fewer than 10,000 workers overall in the hubs of Houma, La., Mobile, Ala., and Pascagoula, Miss., 75,000 total jobs are reliant on the industry, according to the estimate.

The fishing industry's fortunes also resonate widely. At dockside, the value of shrimp, oysters and fish brought in to Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi totals less than $400 million a year. That is small relative to the states' combined gross domestic product of nearly $500 billion. But seafood brokers, fish shops and restaurants throughout the Southeast depend on the availability of Gulf seafood. ...........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703341904575266810533010940.html?mod=rss_whats_news_us

[Orlandodem]

1. So the recession was as bad as the Depression, and the causes of both

were similar.

Apparently the oil spill is our environmental disaster like the Dust Bowl was in the 30s and will cause thousands to lose their jobs.

We swept a moronic Republican out of the WH as a result of the Depression and we bring in a Democrat.

Can there be anymore similarities between this decade and the 1930s?

[Romulox]

2. If economic opportunities dry up in the South, I suggest Southerners move to where the jobs are.

:hi:

[jpak]

3. You reap what you sow - want oil and gas jobs? Hate greenie moonbat environazis?

Elect teabagging politicians that protect the oil industry?

Don't do the crime, if you can't do the time.

nope