Irma, a category 4 Hurricane is set to make landfall in Florida this weekend, Trillions in value tied to real estate are at extreme risk. These are millions of homes built on land below sea level in the Eastern Panhandle.
(google Earth)
I believe this damage to Florida in the greater Miami and West Palm Beach area have the capability of destroying the fragile state of the US economy.
If you recall the last recession was spurred on by the Sub-Prime real estate bubble (many of these loans were allocated to Florida) it is not out of the question for real estate to cause another financial panic. Real Estate in Miami has been an increasingly risky asset recently as sea level rise causes "daylight" flooding and is constantly a major infrastructure battle. Just a few inches of rain or sea level rise is estimated to put whole city blocks underwater.
With the destruction of these properties, the result would be massive insurance claims picked up by federally funded programs the the already bankrupt National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) ensuing flight out of the Florida real estate market. Trillions in property value could vanish.
Not to mention that FEMA disaster relief funds completely gone from dealing with hurricane Harvey. Today Trump and minority leader Chuck Schumer agreed to repeal the debt ceiling so that the Fed can print more U.S Treasuries just to keep up with thier spending. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2017/09/07/trump-schumer-agree-to-pursue-plan-to-repeal-the-debt-ceiling/?utm_term=.199f4a97577e
We have a major situation on our hands in the US, and it is tied heavily into the global economy.
Hold your bitcoins tight, this could be the straw that breaks the camels back.
This Vice piece is a great doc outlining the risky Florida real-estate market, and it was published back in March. it actually ends by saying a Hurricane would wipe out Miami..