How much did the September 11 terrorist attack cost America?
Counting the value of lives lost as well as property damage and lost production
of goods and services, losses already exceed $100 billion. Including the loss in
stock market wealth -- the market's own estimate arising from expectations of lower
corporate profits and higher discount rates for economic volatility -- the price
tag approaches $2 trillion.
Among the big-ticket items:
The loss of four civilian aircraft valued at $385 million.
The destruction of major buildings in the World Trade Center with a replacement cost of from $3 billion to $4.5 billion.
Damage to a portion of the Pentagon: up to $1 billion.
Cleanup costs: $1.3 billion.
Property and infrastructure damage: $10 billion to $13 billion.
Federal emergency funds (heightened airport security, sky marshals, government takeover of airport security, retrofitting aircraft with anti-terrorist devices, cost of operations in Afghanistan): $40 billion.
Direct job losses amounted to 83,000, with $17 billion in lost wages.
The amount of damaged or unrecoverable property hit $21.8 billion.
Losses to the city of New York (lost jobs, lost taxes, damage to infrastructure, cleaning): $95 billion.
Losses to the insurance industry: $40 billion.
Loss of air traffic revenue: $10 billion.
Fall of global markets: incalculable.
More information:List of the victimsNew York City Comptroller report: One Year later, The Fiscal Impact of 9/11 on New York CityThe Milken Institute: The Impact of September 11
on U.S. Metropolitan EconomiesInternational Labour Organization: The impact of the 2001-2002 crisis on the hotel and tourism industry
