The devastating California wildfires could be the “costliest disaster” in U.S. history, economist and author Julia Pollack said Friday on Fox Business Network's “Morning with Maria.” he said.
Host Maria Bartiromo said, “As a matter of policy, Julia Pollack, jump in here. We were talking about the devastating wildfires in Los Angeles, which of course forced evacuations. Julia, in Washington. I'm wondering if the next step will be enacting disaster relief legislation to rebuild infrastructure, pay for emergency housing, and replenish FEMA. How does that factor in current economic conditions? ”
“That's right. So this disaster is already the seventh costliest disaster in U.S. history and could soon become the costliest disaster because it's far from contained,” Pollack said. It’s going to have a big impact and it’s going to have an impact on our finances.”
She added: “This has happened at a time when I actually think we are starting to see some glimmers of hope in the labor market. The Fed's 100 basis points and interest rate cuts have already led to some improvement in the real economy.Banks are becoming more open to lending to consumers, allowing them to take advantage of the huge home equity they have built up. The balance of home equity lines of credit is increasing as We see that total vehicle sales are increasing. More people are buying big-ticket items. What's lagging behind is the labor market, which hasn't caught up yet. This report suggests that the labor market is perhaps beginning to recover from two years of stagnation.
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