More broken windows

Few weeks ago I've written about a particular example of the broken window fallacy; here comes another one. Bozeman, MT has recently suffered a hail storm which damaged many buildings. Of course, the local paper reported this as good news: "Storm Boosts Bozeman Economy"!

It's futile to explain why this type of thinking is outrageously stupid; the broken window fallacy is undead, it will go on forever. I think it is interesting though that the believers in this fallacy apply their belief rather selectively: some disasters boost, others not so much. Why, for example, do we not see anyone trying to tell us how the Gulf economy has been boosted by the oil spill? I mean, think about all the new jobs it has generated.