« Hydrogen and chips alert, Thurs., Sept. 22, 2005, 7:29 AM | Main | Sizing up billcara.com, Thurs., Sept. 22, 2005, 10:18 AM »

September 22, 2005

The importance of being earnest, Thursday, September 22, 2005, 9:19 AM

Last Sunday I received a heads up from a professional meteorologist that there was a relatively small tropical disturbance that was likely to become a hurricane moving from the Bahamas through the Gulf of Mexico toward Texas. The implications were obvious. Perhaps he alerted me to Rita because I had spent so much time on Katrina.

In any event, a couple hours later I published an article for ADVFN, which they published on their home page of the U.S. service. The next morning, I added some links to graphics and published the same article on these pages.

I talked about the prospects of Rita giving a knockout blow to Houston. Maybe I do have a crystal ball. Rita now is the third strongest regional hurricane on record, and appears to be headed to within maybe 20 miles of the Houston ship channel.

In degree of financial and societal catastrophe that would be the worst possible case scenario. And coming three weeks after the greatest natural disaster ever suffered in the United States, the implications to the cost of recovery and rebuilding are now obvious to all.

Rita and Katrina will have come and gone, and the multi-hundreds of billions of dollars will be spent, not because government and other affected parties' want to but because they have to. That, thankfully, will be just half of the story.

Mid-way through the grieving and the introspection of these times, there will be a remarkable rise of the human spirit in America, and people will start looking to the years ahead. They will be looking to the best of times.

Remember, in every dark cloud, there is a silver lining. Frivolous people cannot see that.

This morning I heard an excellent explanation of disasters... They bring out the best and worst in people. I'd add that a crisis separates those who are in earnest from the rest.

And those in earnest will seek out and exploit the opportunities that life presents.

Over the years I seem to have grown from one who sold dreams to one who is selling vision. My vision is that North America will become stronger for these terrible storms, and that strength will become most solid in sub-industries like alternative energy, biotech, (new) chip technology, specialty chemicals, aerospace, gaming and transaction software technologies, and of course investment and merchant banking, among others.

Just think how long it took Google, EBAY, Yahoo and others to go from start-up to rank among the world's largest, most successful corporations. Rita and Katrina will give birth to others like them.

And that's going to happen because of, as I say, the human spirit in America.

Posted by Posted by Bill Cara on September 22, 2005 09:19:40 AM | Category: Yada yada