Hurricane Katrina changed free markets in the South and in many more ways than we may have imagined. For instance there is a shortage of four-wheel drive vehicles now due to the storm. Prior to the storm in the Gulf Coast there was generally a trend to buy smaller cars for higher mileage vehicles due to rising fuel prices. Now those small cars cannot maneuver around all the debris, nor will they be able to for many months. This causes a problem too for police cruisers. Hurricane Katrina is setting up a demand by police departments for four wheel drive vehicles to travel thru all the debris and flooded areas. Many of the police, municipal and service vehicles were lost in the storm. This need has made four wheel drive vehicles scarce from South Carolina to Little Rock to Houston, as those vehicles are being bought up and shipped to the devastated area. Luckily there is ample supply in other areas, but then there has been the logistical problem of dealer trades from as far away as Wyoming and Montana, Arizona and California, Ohio and Indiana. Now that all these four-wheel drive vehicles are being used in the region, which use more fuel, there is still the issue of limited supplies. All this is causing additional hardship to local, state and Federal government clean-up and rebuilding teams. Although none of this is too surprising, it is just one more problem to overcome and generally four wheel drive vehicles are not available in Hybrids. Think on this. |
