Until now, whenever Warren Buffett's preferred mode of industrial transportation - that would be trains [3]- derailed, it would usually involve spilling generous amounts of oil into the surrounding area, far more than any hypothetical pipeline disaster to date would have resulted in. Then, in an apparent first, overnight a train derailed in Montana and spilled fuselages of Boeing 737 airplanes into the Clark Fork River. One wonder if all of these airplane orders had been funded by the Ex-Im bank.
From King5.com [4]:
The investigation continues into the derailment of a train near the town of Superior, Montana Thursday night.
Some of the cars carried aircraft components.
Nineteen cars on the westbound train derailed. Three of the cars contained aircraft parts and ended up in the Clark Fork River. Sources tell KING5 the parts were heading to Boeing in Renton.
Crews spent the night and into this morning cleaning up.
Photos from the derailment site:
[5]
[6]
[7]
In any event, since the capital order will have to go through twice, expect a bumper month when it comes to July Durable Goods, and thus Q3 GDP. In retrospect, the "derailed airplane fuselage" theory of economic growth may soon replace the "broken window" falacy as a means to "boost" the US economy.
