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Originally Posted by d.Nox
And for all of that, there was no depression, and even the recession (which, it should be noted, was getting started before 9/11, and had as much to do with the dot-com bubble than terrorism) wasn't that bad.
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Look at any graph of the Dow Jones Industrial Average and tell me the hit that it took in late September, 2001 and early October, 2001 was from a dot-com bubble. Do it with a straight face. It drops off the face of the planet on the 11th and hiccups its way back up slowly after the markets reopened.
That drop off was the biggest loss in one single day for the Dow Jones in the entire history of the New York Stock Exchange.
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Yes, the stock market plunged--again, our overreaction--but even so, it recovered pretty well within a couple years; in the meantime, we didn't see rampant inflation, mass unemployment, or any other sign that the economy was broken, as opposed to merely injured.
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If any of that happened, I'd have said that al-Qaeda, "crippled our economy," as opposed to, "came close to crippling our economy."
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Airlines? ...not one major carrier went under.
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Yeah, thank friggin' God for the Treasury Department's, "Air Transportation Stablization Board." Take a guess when that office was created and what it was created specifically for. I'll give you a hint; it has to do with life-support.
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As for the drop in the value of the dollar, it's a broad enough measure that I don't think you can tie it to a single event--especially since it continued dropping for several years after 9/11, which seems to indicate that the attack isn't the only factor in play.
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No one ever can, but closing the New York Stock Exchange for a week and starting it back up on several hiccups didn't do much for it's value.
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In sum? Yes, 9/11 wasn't good for the economy, but to say that al-Qaeda "almost crippled" it is hyperbole bordering on blatant propaganda. Most people saw next to no change in their standard of living, and much of the bad effects were due to our own mismanagement.
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Most people didn't... the ones living outside of New York, of course, didn't have to deal with the mop-up effect of a heavily damaged tourism industry.
Considering the New York Stock Exchange has only closed up shop a few (can count them on one hand with fingers to spare) times in history, chalking up one of those to a major terror attack is pretty lofty. Especially since more devastating attacks (i.e. bombs) have gone off closer to the market (i.e. right out front) in the past with fewer repercussions.
If you can get the markets to close for a week, you can pat yourself on the back for fucking up someone's checkbook. Some industries still haven't recovered.
Is it the Apocalypse? Hell no. Capitalism is a beautiful thing sometimes.