Impact On Political Environment

Published Date: 02 Nov 2017

Introduction

Superstorm Sandy hit the East Coast of United States on Nov 2012, wiping out entire communities and brings huge destruction to New York City. The natural disasters not only hit the natural environment but also bring the huge impacts on US president election and economic environment. This assignment is written to discuss the impact of this natural disaster on United States political and economic environment.

Impact on Political Environment

In voting a new president, voters are concerned in which candidates will handle the problem well while the natural disasters happen before the president election. They seek guidance for solving the damage. Candidate who hit the point will gain good image, which could magnify support. According to the election in 2012, the Sandy had thrust President Obama into leadership role. There were several reasons caused by Sandy that pushed up the vote of Obama. Primarily, President Obama had created his image by touring disaster areas and comforting the voters. In addition, President Obama had issued emergency announcement to several state before the Sandy made landfall. It had significantly reduced the casualty and also had determined the vote of Obama in election.

Secondly, the Sandy affected people’s ability to vote. There was more supportive of Democratic candidates (Barack Obama) than Republican candidates (Mitt Romney) in the disaster area. Therefore, it had seriously influenced the total vote for President Obama. However, votes in Electoral College was important than popular votes. President Obama had received the majority votes of Electoral College while Mitt Romney had received more popular votes. Hence, President Obama won in the election.

The storm had destroyed the buildings and road, caused those voters outside the city difficult getting into polls. There was more supporter of Democratic in the city. Therefore, it had directly helped the Obama vote. In addition, there were more elderlies voting for Republican. The Sandy had made the older voter hard to participate in the election since the transportation was inconvenience.

If the voting in the Election Day is suppressed, the early voting would emphasize its important in the election. This step of changing to early voting was to ensure the public safety. There were 42 percent to 55 percent of voters who supported President Obama planned to vote early or had already done so while there were more than half supporters of Republican decided to vote during Election Day. Due to the Sandy, many voters might not take part the election in time. Therefore, it might help President Obama since the early vote was more than Romney.

Impact on Economic Environment

Sandy brought losses to the economy of US. Sandy had destroyed many factories and homes in US. In addition, there were many store bases in the path of Sandy. Therefore, the supply of necessity and others goods and services had dramatically dropped because all the production factors were not able to supply the same level of output after the disaster. It caused demand excess supply. Sandy had also hit the power station in US and many areas were without power. It had definitely worsened the situation of loss supply because those businesses that survived from the storm were not able to continue their production. Due to the shortage of resources, output became lesser and the price of goods and services became more and more expensive. This situation would lead to inflation. However, due to other reasons, inflation rate did not vary many but inflation still existed in US (see Appendix A). Inflation was not a good phenomenon for US especially during the disaster.

Since the storm made landfall in US, there were many buildings collapsed and crop damaged. Therefore, government, households and firms had to consume more to rebuild those damaged assets. As the table shown (see Appendix B), GDP of US had increased to $15.96 trillion in December 2012 after the storm. Economic of US had grown as it was an increase in real GDP per capita. Real GDP per capita is calculated by taking real GDP divided by population. Since many factories were collapsed, many people were unemployed. Based on the table below (see Appendix D), unemployment rate remained at 7.8% between November and December. However, it did not mean the amount of unemployed became lower because the labour force had increased between two months. Saving significantly reduced because most of the income would be used on consumption of goods and services which were expensive. Besides, those who were unemployed would definitely draw out money from bank for daily needs. Investors had no way to gather money to rebuild their business. Due to the high unemployment, it might also cause many offences such as pillage in the society.

Exchange rate became lower since there was inflation in US. By lacking of resources, US government, households and firms had to import goods and services to cope the needs of whole US. After the storm, US was unable to export same level of goods and services. However, US kept on importing resources to recover the economy of country. It caused trade deficit in country's transaction, it was shown in Current Account Balance in December year 2012 which it was -$38,114 million. Sandy also affected the tourism of US. There were more than 15,000 flights into New York had been cancelled. The news of road and bridge collapsed frighten tourists. It reduced the income of US. In addition, investors from abroad were not willing to invest in US after the storm as the value of bonds and shares were not valuable anymore. US had no income on investments and tourism from abroad. It made the current account of US more badly.

Tax revenue of government became more because the GDP and income of public had increased. In the table (see Appendix F), government revenue had increased $87,561 million from November to December. After the storm in 2012, government expenditure had increased to $325,930 million (see Appendix F). By lacking of money and resources, US government need to borrow money from abroad to replace or repair the tangible assets which had been destroyed during the storm such as road, bridge and power station.

Conclusion

In conclusion, natural disaster did impact in either election or economic of US. Natural disaster destroyed some areas, making those particular dumb millions difficult taking part in election. It would significantly affect the result of election when one of the candidates had more supportive in affected areas. In addition, people could observe which candidate was the best by leading them solving the problems via the occurrence of natural disaster. Natural disaster had brought many negative effects to the economy of US such as inflation, economic declined and unemployment rate increased. It also caused trade deficit in current account of US which meant import was more than export. National debt of US had also increased after the storm happened because US had to borrow money from others countries to rebuild facilities.

(1150 words)

Harvard Referencing:

Al Jazeera, 29 Oct 2012, The effects of Hurricane Sandy on the US elections, Available Website: URL: http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2012/10/20121029123514551821.html (Accessed 31 March 2013)

Andrew Reeves, November 5, 2012, How disasters change elections, Available Website: URL: http://blogs.reuters.com/great-debate/2012/11/05/how-disasters-change-elections/ (Accessed 31 March 2013)

Rachel Weiner, October 26, 2012, How Hurricane Sandy could affect the election, Available Website: URL: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-politics/wp/2012/10/26/how-hurricane-sandy-could-affect-the-election/ (Accessed 31 March 2013)

Martin Neil Baily, September 1, 2011, Can Natural Disasters Help Stimulate the Economy, Available Website: URL: http://www.brookings.edu/research/opinions/2011/09/01-disasters-stimulus-baily (Accessed 3 April 2013)

Evan Gold, Oct30, 2012, The economic impact of ‘superstorm’ Sandy, Available Website: URL: http://www.bizjournals.com/philadelphia/blog/guest-comment/2012/10/the-economic-impact-of-superstorm.html?page=all (Accessed 4 April 2013)

Kimberly Amadeo, What Are the Facts About Sandy’s Damage and Economic Impact, Available Website: URL: http://useconomy.about.com/od/Disasters/f/Hurricane-Sandy-Economic-Impact.htm (Accessed 4 April 2013)

By The Associated Press, Posted: 11/29/2012, Superstorm Sandy Deaths, Damage And Magnitude: What We Know One Month Later, Available Website: URL: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/29/superstorm-hurricane-sandy-deaths-2012_n_2209217.html (Accessed 6 April 2013)

Appendix A

Year

Jan

Feb

Mar

Apr

May

Jun

Jul

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

Ave

2013

1.6

2

1.5

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2012

2.9

2.9

2.7

2.3

1.7

1.7

1.4

1.7

2

2.2

1.8

1.7

2.1

2011

1.6

2.1

2.7

3.2

3.6

3.6

3.6

3.8

3.9

3.5

3.4

3

3.2

2010

2.6

2.1

2.3

2.2

2

1.1

1.2

1.1

1.1

1.2

1.1

1.5

1.6

2009

0

0.2

-0.4

-0.7

-1.3

-1.4

-2.1

-1.5

-1.3

-0.2

1.8

2.7

-0.4

2008

4.3

4

4

3.9

4.2

5

5.6

5.4

4.9

3.7

1.1

0.1

3.8

2007

2.1

2.4

2.8

2.6

2.7

2.7

2.4

2

2.8

3.5

4.3

4.1

2.8

2006

4

3.6

3.4

3.5

4.2

4.3

4.1

3.8

2.1

1.3

2

2.5

3.2

2005

3

3

3.1

3.5

2.8

2.5

3.2

3.6

4.7

4.3

3.5

3.4

3.4

2004

1.9

1.7

1.7

2.3

3.1

3.3

3

2.7

2.5

3.2

3.5

3.3

2.7

2003

2.6

3

3

2.2

2.1

2.1

2.1

2.2

2.3

2

1.8

1.9

2.3

2002

1.1

1.1

1.5

1.6

1.2

1.1

1.5

1.8

1.5

2

2.2

2.4

1.6

2001

3.7

3.5

2.9

3.3

3.6

3.2

2.7

2.7

2.6

2.1

1.9

1.6

2.8

2000

2.7

3.2

3.8

3.1

3.2

3.7

3.7

3.4

3.5

3.4

3.4

3.4

3.4

1999

1.7

1.6

1.7

2.3

2.1

2

2.1

2.3

2.6

2.6

2.6

2.7

2.2

Table of Inflation Rates by Month and Year 1999-2013 (in Percentages)

Appendix B

US Monthly GDP (in Trillions)

Date

GDP (in Trillions)

Dec 31, 2012

15.96

Nov 30, 2012

15.81

Oct 31, 2012

15.80

Sept 30, 2012

15.86

Aug 31, 2012

15.76

July 31, 2012

15.82

Capture2.JPG

Figure : US Monthly GDP (Trillions)

Appendix C

Historical US Population Growth

Year/ Month

Population

(in Millions)

Year/ Month

Population

(in Millions)

2012-2

313

2012-8

314

2012-3

313

2012-9

315

2012-4

313

2012-10

315

2012-5

313

2012-11

315

2012-6

314

2012-12

315

2012-7

314

2013-1

316

Capture.JPG

Figure : Chart of US Population Growth

Appendix D

United States Labour Force Statistics Seasonally Adjusted (in thousands)

Month

Labour force (Person)

Employed (Person)

Unemployed

(Person)

Unemployment rate (%)

December

155,511

143,305

12,206

7.8

November

155,319

143,277

12,042

7.8

October

155,576

143,328

12,248

7.9

September

155,056

142,974

12,082

7.8

August

154,647

142,164

12,483

8.1

July

154,995

142,250

12,745

8.2

June

155,149

142,448

12,701

8.2

May

154,998

142,302

12,695

8.2

April

154,451

141,934

12,518

8.1

March

154,707

142,020

12,686

8.2

February

154,825

142,019

12,806

8.3

January

154,356

141,608

12,748

8.3

Appendix E

US Monthly Trade

Month

US Trade Deficit($ millions)

Month

US Trade Deficit ($ millions)

Dec-12

$38,114

Dec-11

$50,421

Nov-12

$48,228

Nov-11

$47,542

Oct-12

$42,046

Oct-11

$43,121

Sep-12

$40,345

Sep-11

$44,009

Aug-12

$42,552

Aug-11

$45,091

Jul-12

$41,944

Jul-11

$45,613

Jun-12

$40,921

Jun-11

$51,774

May-12

$47,009

May-11

$50,210

Apr-12

$49,726

Apr-11

$43,231

Mar-12

$51,726

Mar-11

$46,059

Feb-12

$44,586

Feb-11

$45,381

Jan-12

$52,288

Jan-11

$47,521

Appendix F

Summary of Receipts, Outlays, and the Deficit/Surplus of the US Government, Fiscal Years 2012 by month

Period

Receipts

Outlays

(Deficit)/ surplus

Year 2012

million($) 

 million($) 

million($) 

October

163,072

261,539

98,466

November

152,402

289,704

137,302

December

239,963

325,930

85,967