NYC Transit Strike and the Economic Impact

For the second day in a row now the NYC Transit Union has left millions of angry New Yorkers without an effective way to commute about the city. The worlds largest transit system, carrying an estimated 7 million passengers (round trip ticket sales) per day, has shut it doors for measly 6% increase in pay request. Of course the 1 million dollar a day fine is quickly wiping out this 6% increase fine for going on strike. What really worries me here is the ever-looming possibility of a terrorist attack. Should these transit systems need to be up and read to go incase of an emergency - they of course will not be ready.

Why do these people think that they are above the law? Do they not realize this is a case they cannot win and that simply disobeying the law is only going to hurt them. Not only will it hurt them but it poses a severe security risk to the NYC area, it hurts the economy of the area (and on a national level) as retail stores are empty right before the holidays, and it hurts the strikers own economic interest in that they have now lost two days pay and will incur extensive fines. If you are looking for investment opportunities here then I would look at retailers in NYC and short them. As of right now the markets are up huge today... that is of course except for stocks like Saks Fifth Ave (SKS) and Macy's (Federated Department Stores – FD). If you have the ability to short stocks, that might be a good play here at least until this issue is resolved. If I had a choice then I would lean towards shorting FD over SAKS simply because high end retail is doing much better then middle class stores like Macy's this year.

Update: Yahoo reports an estimated loss of approximately $400 million dollars per day.